Use It or Lose It: Your Guide to Year-End Eye Care Benefits
While you’re planning for all the end-of-the-year activities, don’t forget to use all your eye insurance benefits before Dec. 31. Here’s how to avoid leaving money on the table.
The Future of Cataract Surgery: Is the Light Adjustable Lens for You?
Cataract surgery is one of the most common medical procedures, with 3 million surgeries performed yearly in the United States and 20 million worldwide.
The surgery and recovery have always been fairly unremarkable — until now.
Berkeley Heights Eye Group in New Providence, New Jersey, led by Dr. Todd Leventhal and Dr. Albert Bargoud, is proud to be the first provider in Union County to offer the Light Adjustable Lens™ (LAL®) to customize the vision of cataract patients.
Here’s why the LAL is the future of cataract surgery — and how to determine if it’s for you.
What’s cataract surgery?
Just like a camera, your eye has a lens that focuses light, enabling you to see. This lens is made of mostly water and proteins; as you age, the proteins begin to break down, forming cataracts that cause hazy or cloudy vision by preventing light from passing through the lens.
When that happens, an ophthalmologist can perform cataract surgery to remove the natural cloudy lens and replace it with a clear, artificial lens that restores your vision. The surgery lasts about 15 minutes, with typically no medical complications.
The lens we use depends on your goals for your vision after the surgery. These fixed lenses may not correct complex vision issues entirely, meaning you may still need to wear corrective lenses (glasses or contacts) to see perfectly.
How does the LAL work?
The Light Adjustable Lens is the only lens that’s adjustable after surgery to correct vision. It’s made of a photosensitive material that changes the shape and power of the implanted lens in response to ultraviolet light (UV) to optimize your vision.
With traditional lenses, you’re stuck with the results of the surgery. With LAL, however, you and your doctor have the ability to adjust your vision after the surgery based on your lifestyle and unique circumstances.
What should you expect?
After your eye heals from the cataract surgery, you return to the office for your first UV light treatment. A Light Delivery Device™ precisely shines UV light on your lens to customize your vision. If your vision isn’t quite where you want it, we can do additional light treatments.
Once it’s set, we perform two lock-in treatments to finalize the results. After surgery and while we adjust your vision, you need to wear RxSight UV-protective glasses that prevent natural UV light from accidentally adjusting your lenses.
Patients who choose LAL are twice as likely to achieve 20/20 vision without glasses as those who receive normal lenses.
You’re a good candidate for LAL if you desire this type of vision, you have healthy eyes with no more than moderate astigmatism, and you’re willing to wear UV-protective glasses as needed.
LAL may not be a good choice if you have macular degeneration or take light-sensitive medications.
If you’d like to explore the Light Adjustable Lens as an option for cataract treatment, our team is happy to discuss it with you. Call our office or request your appointment online today.
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Cataract Surgery
Cataract surgery is an operation to remove your eye's natural lens when it is cloudy. The purpose of the lens is to bend(refract) light rays that enter the eye to help you see. Your own lens should be clear, but with a cataract, it is cloudy.