What are the different types of lenses available for lens surgery at Optimax?
Why get lens surgery instead of laser eye surgery?
Some patients who come to us for laser eye surgery find that they’re actually not suitable for it, and that they are better candidates for lens surgery instead. We offer two different types of lens surgery – Implantable Contact Lenses and Lens Replacement surgery. There are a number of benefits for both of these surgeries, but people most commonly opt for them due to a strong prescription that excludes them from laser eye surgery, or due to the presence of a cataract which would require Lens Replacement surgery. We’re going to discuss the different types of lens surgery available at Optimax, along with the choice of lenses for each treatment, all of which enable you to have a truly personalised experience with your vision correction surgery.
What are Implantable Contact Lenses?
Implantable Contact Lenses, also known as ICLs, are lenses which are implanted in your eye to sit in front of your eye’s natural lens, behind the iris. Your natural lens remains in place – think of an ICL as a permanent contact lens which stays in your eye. ICLs are designed to last for your entire lifetime, so you will feel the benefit for decades to come.
ICLs are best-suited to patients aged between 20 and 40 with a strong prescription of up to +10 for long-sighted patients and -20 for short-sighted patients. It is also a good option for patients who suffer with dry eyes or thin corneas, both of which are factors which would make you unsuitable for laser eye surgery.
At Optimax, our choice of lens for all ICL procedures is the STAAR EVO Visian. 99.78% of our ICL patients were satisfied with the results of their ICL surgery which is a statistic we’re very proud of. We offer the EVO Visian in both a toric and non-toric version – toric lenses are made for patients with an astigmatism, so the ICL procedure truly is suited to everyone.
What is Lens Replacement surgery?
The other type of lens surgery we offer at Optimax is lens replacement surgery, which is the same procedure as cataract surgery. This process involves removing your eye’s natural lens and replacing it with a monofocal or multifocal lens. The choice of lens is up to the patient – if you would like to eliminate the need for reading glasses and also correct your prescription during the procedure, then multifocal lenses are for you.
We typically recommend lens replacement surgery to patients over the age of 40, as it is this age group who are likely to begin needing reading glasses soon. It is also suitable for patients who might not rely much on glasses but who are in the early stages of developing a cataract. Lens replacement surgery removes the old lens affected by the cataract, restoring youthful vision again. Opting for a multifocal or trifocal lens gives patients the chance to effectively kill two birds with one stone – remove the cataract and get rid of their glasses for good.
What’s the difference between monofocal and multifocal lenses?
Monofocal lenses generally correct distance vision (although we can have them made to correct another particular visual distance if you desire), and these are the lenses which are offered as standard with NHS cataract surgery. Some Optimax patients choose these lenses, especially if they are simply looking to skip the NHS cataract surgery waiting list, and have no interest in removing the need for their glasses.
On the other hand, multifocal lenses provide sharp vision for both near and distant visual ranges. We also offer another type of lens called a trifocal lens which – as the name suggests – provides sharp vision for three visual distances: near, intermediate and distant. Multifocal and trifocal lenses are very popular with our patients as they provide the opportunity to live a life free of any kind of glasses.
We also offer EDOF lenses which stands for Extended Depth of Focus. The lenses are tolerant to mild amblyopia and subtle macular diseases, while also providing a better depth of focus. This means that they can bend the light that enters your eye, providing good focus for both intermediate and far distances. These qualities make EDOF lenses more suitable for a wider range of patients, giving more people the opportunity to have their vision corrected.
The lenses we have available at Optimax for lens replacement surgeries include:
Monofocal –
Alcon: Acrysoft SN60WF/SN6CWS
AMO: Tecnis Monofical ZCB00/PCB00 & Eyehance ICB00
Rayner: Rayone EMV
Monofocal Toric –
Alcon: Acrysoft IQ Toric SN6AT
AMO: Tecnis Toric ZCT & Eyehance Toric DIU
ZEISS: AT TORBI 709M/MP Lens
EDOF –
Zeiss: AT LARA (Toric and non-toric)
Alcon: Vivity (Toric and non-toric)
Trifocal –
Zeiss: AT LISA Tri 839MP
Alcon: Panoptix Lens
PhysIOL: Fine Vision PodF
What are 'piggyback' lenses?
A piggyback lens is a lens which is inserted on top of an existing artificial lens in your eye i.e. in patients who have already had cataract treatment or lens exchange surgery. A piggyback lens can enhance the vision that your lens surgery has already provided, bringing further benefits. A piggyback lens can also be used to fine-tune the results of a multifocal lens replacement (although it is extremely rare that this would be required). It provides a much less invasive method of re-treating a patient, simply placing the piggybank lens in front of the previously-implanted artificial lens.
The piggyback lens we offer at Optimax is the Sulcoflex lens by Rayner which you can read about in greater depth on our website here. This option truly allows you to have customised vision to produce the best visual result possible.
If you would like to learn more about your suitability for ICL treatment, cataract surgery, or lens replacement surgery, please feel free to send us an email at enquiry@optimax.co.uk. Alternatively, you can give us a call on 0800 093 1110 or book a free consultation online here. We offer more than just laser eye surgery and pride ourselves on our range of available lens treatments to suit a wide patient base.
