What is Presbyopia?

If you have cataracts and currently use reading glasses for near vision, modern technology may offer you the opportunity to throw away your glasses and see like you were young. Presbyopia is an condition that develops with the onset of aging which causes your natural lens to lose its elasticity. This results in your eye’s inability to accommodate for both near and far vision. That’s why many of us who never needed glasses when younger, require reading glasses as we grow older.

The good news is if you have developed cataracts and require surgery, new premium IOLs are now available that can restore your eyes ability to accommodate as well as regain the vision you have lost to cataract formation. After undergoing cataract surgery with the Crystalens™ you may be able to throw away your reading glasses or bifocal contacts and/or glasses.

Dr. Mellgren offers qualified cataract patients the option to have the Crystalens™ implanted in place of the standard IOL. She will be happy to discuss this option with you at the time of your visit.

The effectiveness of Crystalens was Proven in Clinical Trials:

• Significantly more patients implanted with a Crystalens (88.4%) could see better at all distances than patients implanted with a standard IOL (35.9%).
• Most patients have continued to report excellent vision 7 years after implantation with Crystalens. More than 200,000 Crystalens implants have been implanted worldwide, and that number is growing daily.

Crystalens™ accommodates like the natural lens. After implantation of Crystalens, most patients will see brighter and clearer from distance, intermediate to near like they did when they were younger.

Crystalens™ ONLY FDA-Approved Accommodating IOL

Crystalens™ was the first presbyopia correcting IOL introduced into the United States market and is currently the only FDA-approved accommodating IOL. Crystalens™ addresses the limitations of standard monofocal IOLs and multifocal IOLs by providing the following advantages to patients:

• Provides a Broad Range of Vision: Crystalens moves and changes shape using the eye's natural focusing mechanism, instead of remaining fixed and stationary within the eye. This movement, or accommodation, allows the eye to focus on objects across a broad range of distances to reduce or eliminate dependence on glasses. In particular, this accommodation provides significant advantages in addressing intermediate vision.
• Maintains Clarity of Vision: Unlike multifocal lenses, Crystalens directs all available light received by the eye to a single focal point, comparable to that of a healthy natural lens.
• Patient Adjustment Not Required: Crystalens produces a single image consistent with normal vision, meaning patients do not need to neuroadapt to viewing multiple images. Patients also do not need to tolerate or adjust to high levels of halos and glare often associated with multifocal IOLs.