In the past, changing your intraocular lens, or IOL, after cataract surgery meant having another surgery. Light Adjustable Lenses are an IOL option that allow your doctor to adjust and improve your vision without requiring another surgery.

Light Adjustable Lenses are similar to single focus IOLs, meaning that the lens will give you clear vision without glasses at distance or near, but not both. However, unlike basic single focus IOLs, Light Adjustable Lenses contain photosensitive molecules that can be adjusted with certain wavelengths of UV light.

Just like a tailor can alter your clothing to fit you best, your doctor can precisely adjust your IOL after surgery and fine tune your vision. This precision is especially helpful to correct astigmatism or if you’ve previously had LASIK.

You can also try ‘setting’ each of your two IOLs for different focal lengths to achieve clear near vision in one eye, and intermediate or far vision in the other eye. However, if you try this and find the difference between eyes is too much, you can readjust your vision and change the IOLs back.

Depending on how you set your Light Adjustable Lenses, you still might need glasses for some activities, like reading fine print in dim lighting. In general, Light Adjustable Lenses allow you to enjoy more freedom from glasses without experiencing halos around lights at night.

After cataract surgery, you will return to your doctor for vision testing and 3-4 painless UV light adjustments spaced several days apart. During this time, you can try out and optimize your vision by adjusting the focal points for each eye at different lengths.

After surgery, you are required to wear UV protective glasses all day long, both indoors and outdoors, so your new lenses don’t accidentally change. After your final treatment, your lens prescription can no longer change and you won’t need to wear the UV protective glasses.

Light Adjustable Lenses give you more precise control over your vision after cataract surgery. Depending on your priorities, this may be an excellent IOL strategy for you, so talk to us today.