Traditionally, this is done with a special artificial lens that is selected for your cataract surgery called a toric lens implant. LAL has a new approach to reducing and possibly eliminating astigmatism. Eyeglasses and contact lenses can compensate for this corneal shape to correct this blur and to focus eyes with astigmatism. There is no advantage to astigmatism because it adds blur to every focal distance. The more astigmatism one has, the more optically blurry the vision is without eyeglasses. The ideal shape of your cornea is perfectly round, but if it is oblong (like the back of a spoon) instead of spherical, then it will mis-focus the light entering the eye. It results from an inherited, imperfect optical shape of the cornea, the clear front window of the eye. Like nearsightedness or farsightedness, astigmatism, describes a common type of natural blur in healthy eyes that is corrected by wearing eyeglasses. Because the LAL is adjustable postoperatively, patients may elect to have both eyes operated on at the same time. It is critical to wear your UV blocking glasses until the final lock-in treatment is performed. Some patients, such as those with a history of RK, may need more time to stabilize before an adjustment is made. When the result is satisfactory, a final treatment is performed, after which the IOL can no longer change or be adjusted. Additional adjustments are performed a week apart. The first customized treatment is typically performed about 3-4 weeks after cataract surgery. It takes approximately two minutes per adjustment.

The adjustments are performed in the Castro Valley office, where we use a light delivery device to send the beam that reshapes the IOL. Most patients will require 3-4 adjustments, although some may require one fewer or one more.

These glasses protect the IOL from receiving UV light until the adjustment process is complete. We provide these glasses for you as part of LAL surgery- one pair that is clear, one sunglass, and one clear with bifocal for reading. You will need to wear these glasses 100% of the time while you are awake except when you take a shower. Immediately after the LAL is implanted in your eye at the time of cataract surgery, you must wear special UV-blocking glasses to cover your eyes. As the shape of the IOL changes, its power changes, which can adjust for astigmatism, nearsightedness, or farsightedness. Their position can be adjusted by an external light beam, which alters the shape of the IOL without requiring additional surgery. The LAL contains molecules that are light-sensitive. Those who enjoy monovision (using one eye for distance and the other for near) will enjoy the precision of the LAL because of its ability to fine tune each eye for its target. For patients in this situation, having an adjustable IOL may be especially beneficial. Others are born with an unusually flat or steep cornea or an extra short or long eye length. Specifically, although we measure the eye preoperatively and use computer programs to calculate the lens power, unlike any other lens, with the Light Adjustable Lens, we can make adjustments to the lens power 3-4 weeks following surgery to fine-tune your vision for unparalleled precision.Ĭertain factors may make IOL power selection particularly challenging, such as history of prior refractive surgery like LASIK, PRK, RK (radial keratotomy). This is the advantage of the Light Adjustable Lens.

As you might expect, these formulas are not 100% accurate for every patient because of individual differences in anatomy and healing properties of the eye. The measurements are entered into various IOL formulas that estimate the IOL most likely to hit the target that you set with your cataract surgeon. Preoperative calculations are performed to assist the surgeon in estimating the correct lens power for your eye. What is the advantage of the Light Adjustable Lens over other IOLs?Įvery other IOL comes in a fixed range of powers.

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