What is a Cataract?
The lens in the eye can become cloudy and hard, a condition known as a cataract. Cataracts can develop from normal aging, from an eye injury, or from certain medications such as steroids. Cataracts may cause blurred vision, dulled vision, sensitivity to light and glare, and/or ghosting of images. If the cataract changes vision so much that it interferes with your daily life, the cataract may need to be removed. Surgery is the only way to remove a cataract. During the surgery a surgeon removes the clouded natural lens and replaces it with an artificial lens. The artificial lens is called an intraocular lens or IOL.
IOL Options
Standard Lens
The traditional/standard IOLs provide either near or distance vision. These lenses have a single focus and are called monofocal IOLs.
Monovision Standard Lens
Monovision uses standard lenses to correct distance vision in one eye, and near vision in the other. It is recommended that you try this using contact lenses beforehand to make sure it works well for you.
Toric
Patients with nearsightedness and farsightedness often also have astigmatism. Toric IOLs help to reduce the amount of astigmatism in your eye, as well as correcting for near or distance.
Multifocal
Most patients who have cataracts also have, or will soon develop presbyopia. Presbyopia is the reason that reading glasses become necessary even for people who have excellent distance vision. Multifocal IOLs are designed to replace cloudy cataract and correct presbyopia at the same time.
How do you know which lens to choose?
Your doctor will help you decide on the type of IOL that will replace your cloudy lens. The goal of cataract surgery is to correct the decreased vision that was caused by the cataract, and to help you achieve your best possible vision for your daily activities.