When cataracts are removed the human lens is replaced with an Intraocular Lens (IOL). Today, we have several new rehabilitation options that weren’t available to our parents and grandparents with the advent of multi-focal, accommodating, and astigmatism correcting IOLs that improve vision in a variety of new ways. The new technology and medical advancements in IOLs not only provide a greater quantity of vision but also promise a drastically greater quality of vision. Traditional IOLs were monofocal, correcting vision for one distance. Patients whose eyes were corrected to see in the distance still required corrective lenses to see to read or look at a computer. With the new multifocal IOLs, many patients can see well at several distances, near and far, without the need for corrective lenses. An accommodating IOL actually shifts positions in accordance with the moving eye muscle, changing the focus of vision from far to near. Toric IOLs, correct astigmatism (blurred vision caused by multiple focus planes of light, usually caused by irregular curvature of the cornea) so patients can see well without glasses. New aspheric IOLs correct visual distortions and allow for an improved degree of contrast sensitivity. With the ability to see better in varying lights, the aspheric IOLs sharpen vision in rain and fog and snow, even driving at nighttime. With the new developments in IOLs come choices, a good thing for those losing their vision to cataracts, for no one size fits all. Talk to your doctor about what IOL is right for you.
