I have a lot of patients asking me about intra-ocular lenses these days.   Intra-ocular lenses are commonly called IOL’s.  They put the eye into focus after cataract surgery.  In the old days (30 years ago), cataract surgery was a major upset for people.  They required a prolonged hospital stay and often had to lie still for many days.   Then, after the banadages were removed, they would have to be fit with contact lenses or very thick glasses.  The glasses were unsightly and caused all sorts of unwelcome distortions.   The thick prescription glasses were needed because the cataract removal put the eye way out of focus.  The cataract develops in the lens of the eye.  The lens accounts for about 1/3 of the focusing power of the eye.  Therefore, when it is removed, the eye is very much out of focus.  Now, we replace the lens with a small plastic lens that stays in the eye permanently.  The new lenses are very safe, in fact, a cataract operation is rarely done these days without one.  One problem though, the lenses don’t completely correct distance vision and people need reading glasses.

That is where the multifocal lenses come in.  These lenses give patients more normal vision, as they have a focus for up close (reading) and for distance as well.  When combined with astigmatism surgery, people can be freed of glasses for 80% of all their activities.  For long periods of reading, a small correction may be needed.  The only downside of the multifocal lenses is that people will notice rings around lights at night due to the way the lenses are shaped.  Most people get used to this, and the benefit of being able to function without glasses makes them more than happy.