Would you like to reduce your dependence on glasses and contacts and prevent cataracts from developing as well? With Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE), it’s possible.
If you’re looking for a way to achieve visual freedom and never have cataracts, this vision correction procedure may be the answer you’re looking for. The built-in benefit of RLE is that it simultaneously stops a cataract from progressing or developing.
Keep reading to learn more about Refractive Lens Exchange and find out if you might be a good candidate for RLE!
What Is Refractive Lens Exchange?
Refractive Lens Exchange is a permanent way to treat refractive errors like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. RLE is also an effective way of treating presbyopia.
Refractive Lens Exchange is usually best suited for patients over 40. RLE is only becoming more popular, with millions of procedures performed every year.
This procedure is almost identical to having cataract surgery. The difference is it’s performed on patients before they develop a significant cataract.
During Refractive Lens Exchange, you’ll have the natural lens of the eye removed. After removing the natural lens, your surgeon replaces it with an artificial lens, called an intraocular lens (IOL). IOLs are permanent and made of a flexible material like silicone.
Refractive Lens Exchange is often recommended to those in the early stages of cataract development. It’s a very effective way to prevent the cataract from progressing.
Preventing cataract progression means you can avoid significant vision impairment. It also stops another cataract from developing in the future since you’ve had the natural lens of the eye removed.
In addition, RLE can be an excellent alternative if you’ve found out that you don’t qualify for LASIK or PRK but still want a permanent way to see clearly. Those in their forties, fifties, and beyond may not be good LASIK candidates due to their natural lens degrading in quality.
Refractive Lens Exchange may be a better fit if this is the case. RLE also ensures a better outcome.
How Does Refractive Lens Exchange Work?
With an intraocular lens in place, you no longer have to worry about developing a cataract down the road. You also don’t have to deal with having perpetually cloudy, impaired vision.
Instead, your vision will be crystal clear. Due to the synthetic material, a cataract can’t develop after you have Refractive Lens Exchange.
You won’t experience any pain during RLE, thanks to receiving numbing eye drops before the procedure begins. After your numbing drops take effect, your surgeon creates a tiny incision at the edge of the cornea.
They then remove your natural lens and implant the new intraocular lens in its place. As Refractive Lens Exchange is an outpatient procedure, you’ll be able to go home after it’s over.
You won’t be allowed to drive yourself home, so make sure you have a trusted friend or family member that can bring you back. You may see an immediate improvement in your vision after the procedure.
To start the healing process, you’ll use eye drops to reduce the chances of inflammation and infection. As you continue healing, you’ll be able to resume many of your normal activities within a day or two of having RLE. Your surgeon will give you a detailed list of instructions to follow as you recover after having Refractive Lens Exchange.
Treating Presbyopia with Refractive Lens Exchange
Presbyopia is a condition that occurs when the natural lens loses flexibility due to aging. Like cataracts, presbyopia is an age-related eye condition that affects approximately 128 million Americans.
Over time, you may find yourself losing your ability to see up-close objects. Struggling to see things up-close can make activities like reading and looking at your phone nearly impossible.
One solution to this is to use reading glasses, which make it easier to see things right in front of you. You may also find yourself holding a book or your phone at arm’s length to see them better.
If you’re performing many tasks that require close-up focus, you may start experiencing headaches and eye fatigue due to eye strain. When presbyopia symptoms become a regular annoyance, many individuals turn to Refractive Lens Exchange.
It can reduce your dependence on reading glasses and restore your ability to see things up-close.
See Clearly at Any Range with Full Focus Lenses
Full Focus implant lenses have more to offer than a basic monofocal intraocular lens. As specialized intraocular lenses, they give you the ability to see clearly at every distance, whether near, far, or anywhere in between.
At Dell Laser Consultants, we do more than offer our patients Full Focus lenses. Dr. Dell pioneered using special intraocular lenses in FDA-sponsored clinical research that could focus both at a distance and up close in 2001 before full FDA approval of these lenses in 2003.
To this day, Dr. Dell has trained hundreds of surgeons to use these lenses and presented lectures worldwide. With Full Focus Lenses, you can reduce your dependence on reading glasses and glasses or contacts.
You’ll be able to transition between looking at an object across the room, a TV or computer screen, and a book without having to depend on your glasses to see. We offer several varieties of Full Focus lenses at Dell Laser Consultants, including Tecnis Multifocal, Symfony, ReStor, Crystalens, and Trulign.
Offering our patients the latest and most state-of-the-art lenses allows us to find the best fit for you. We’ll use the latest technology to determine the lens best to help you achieve your personal visual goals when you have Refractive Lens Exchange.
Are you tired of having to rely on reading glasses or other visual aids? Find out if you’re a good candidate for a procedure like Refractive Lens Exchange by scheduling your consultation at Dell Laser Consultants in Austin, TX, today!
Besides your dependence on glasses and contact lenses, what do you have to lose?
