First, consider your lifestyle and the new treatment options that are available. After your cataract surgery at our on-site Eye Surgical Center, would you prefer glasses for close, far, or computer vision? Or would you rather reduce or eliminate your need for glasses after cataract surgery?

Today, advanced technology solutions, such as ReStor®, Toric®, Crystalens® and Tecnis Multifocal® advanced technology lenses, provide the potential to rejuvenate vision and eliminate the need to wear reading glasses, providing a more independent quality of life.

What is a Cataract?
People commonly misunderstand a cataract to be a “skin” on the eye that must be “peeled off.” A cataract is not a growth, but a normally clear lens inside the eye that has turned cloudy. Cataracts interfere with vision by scattering light as it passes through the eye to the retina. This light dispersal causes blurred images, loss of contrast, glare, or starburst.

Causes of Cataracts
Cataracts are usually a normal part of the aging process. Approximately 21 million American adults have cataracts. They typically develop by the time a person reaches his or her 60s or 70s, although they can occur at younger ages or may exist at birth. Other cataract causes can include eye trauma, inflammation in the eye, or diabetes. Cataracts usually develop in both eyes, but they may develop at different rates.

Cataract surgery may be needed if you have trouble reading, enjoying hobbies, reading street signs, or driving because of blurred vision or glare from headlights.

Cataract surgery options

How Cataracts are Diagnosed
Cataracts are diagnosed during a comprehensive eye examination, which you can easily schedule an appointment for at the Gerstein Eye Institute. Many factors are considered when making the decision to perform cataract surgery. These factors include:

  Medical History - It is important for Dr. Gerstein to determine your eye symptoms and how they encumber your everyday life.
  Eye Tests - A variety of eye charts and tests are used during an eye examination to determine your vision.
  Eye Inspection - We will examine the front structures of the eye, including the clarity of the cornea and lens, using a variety of ophthalmologic instruments to determine if cataracts are obscuring your vision and not another disease.
  Discussion - If cataracts are present, we recommend that you thoroughly discuss the benefits, risks, and alternative treatment options with Dr. Gerstein before you make a decision. You may also want to discuss Advanced Technology Cataract treatment.

Advanced Technology Intraocular Lenses
There are now three advanced technology intraocular lenses (IOLs) available ReSTOR® crystalens®, and Tecnis Multifocal®. All are exciting new FDA-approved vision correction technologies that permit boomers and seniors to experience natural, seamless distance, intermediate, and near vision. The advanced Technology IOL is a space-age plastic lens that is surgically implanted to permanently replace the old, hard natural lens of the eye. These technologies have been proven to have the same safety as traditional lens implants, but also provide what many patients say they really want: greater freedom from glasses-including distance glasses and readers. This surgery often allows many people in their late forties and older (with or without cataracts) to return to the vision quality they had when they were younger.

Correcting Astigmatism
The AcrySof® Toric lens is a foldable, single-piece lens that an eye surgeon implants during cataract surgery to replace the clouded lens. The unique design of the AcySof® Toric IOL makes it possible to reduce or eliminate corneal astigmatism and significantly improve uncorrected distance vision. AcySof® Toric lens provides quality distance vision, independent of eyeglasses and contact lenses.

The AcySof® Toric lens is made of the same biocompatible lens material already successfully implanted in more than 25 million eyers since 1991.

Who Can Benefit from Advanced Technology Lenses
Only the experienced surgeons at Gerstein Eye institute can determine if a patient is a good candidate for these procedures. The best candidate is over 50, has pupils that are not too large, little astigmatism, and eyes that are healthy, other than having cataracts. Although the lens is FDA approved in patients with cataracts, some individuals without cataracts may be candidates for the procedure. Patients with glaucoma, inside-the-eye inflammation, diabetic retinopathy, macular disease, or other active eye disease may not be candidates for the lens.

Types of Vision Problems Corrected
These lenses can correct most degrees of nearsighted and farsightedness. Astigmatism may be corrected during or after the implantation by performing an additional procedure.

For more information about advanced technology intraocular lenses, please call the Gerstein Eye Institute at 773-973-3223 for an appointment.