Intraocular Lenses (IOLs)

A natural lens in your eye adapts to incoming light and assists in focusing it on your retina. You can see because the lens contains a variety of light-sensitive cells that communicate with your brain. This lens is susceptible to developing cataracts, which can only be treated surgically by removing your natural lens. After removing the natural lens, an intraocular lens (IOL) made of synthetic materials is implanted to take its place.

Monofocal IOLS

In cataract surgery, monofocal lenses are the most typical lens type implanted. It only has one focusing distance, hence the name monofocal. Depending on what you need, it can be set to focus on things close up, in the middle, or far away. You could set it for clear-distance vision, as most people do, which is ideal for walking, running, driving, and seeing people far away. Most of the time, glasses are needed to read or do close work. Like your eye’s natural lens, an IOL focuses light that comes into your eye through the cornea and pupil onto the retina, the sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that relays images through the optic nerve to the brain.

Most IOLs are made of a flexible, foldable material and are about one-third of the size of a dime. Like the lenses of prescription eyeglasses, your IOL will contain the appropriate prescription to give you the best vision possible.

Toric IOLS

Premium lenses called toric IOLs are used to treat astigmatism together with short- or long-sightedness. Astigmatism occurs when the eye’s ability to focus varies in different directions, such as when it is stronger horizontally and weaker vertically.

As with an astigmatic eye, toric IOLs are able to rectify the condition because they, too, have varying strengths in different directions, which balance each other out. For toric IOLs to fully correct astigmatism, they must be aligned in the proper direction.

Multifocal IOLS

One type of premium IOL, known as a “multifocal IOL,” allows for clear vision at both far and close ranges. The IOL is divided into zones with varying focusing strengths. It might make it possible for you to read or operate a computer without glasses while also enabling you to see effectively in the distance.