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Avatar universal

Need to hear from people who know about the Nanoflex

         I am not even 30 and need cataract surgery in both eyes, so getting this right is very very important to me. I don;'t think I would be happy with any of the commonly used options, so I'm looking into lesser known ones.
        The Nanoflex IOL from STAAR supposedly gave 100% of study participants 20/20 at distance (best corrected cuz they don’t always focus it perfectly) and 20/63 at near. That’s 100%, 75% of participants could see 20/40 or better at near. Supposedly when used for monovision people have 20/20 across the board.  (instead of needed glasses for intermediate) Supposedly blended vision with this lens can be done in several different ways to supposedly give you perfect vision, no glasses, and you would not be able to tell that your eyes were not focused the same if done correctly.
        100%  of study participants could see 20/32 or better at intermediate. It certainly seems miles better than any monofocal, and pretty competetive with multifocals or crystalens with no drawbacks.  The nanoflex is approved as a monofocal, but supposedly they are trying to have that changed to accommodative for obvious reasons.  Unfortunately, this information comes from two small studies, both of which were paid for by the manufacturer. In addition, there are probably only 20 or 30 doctors in the country who offer this particular IOL. If it was as great as the study results indicate, I can’t imagine why it would not be the ONLY available choice for cataract surgery. In fact, I think everyone over 50 would be lining up to have it implanted for presbyopia correction as well. So, either it’s the best kept secret in the world, or the study results are not giving the whole picture. I want to know if doctors are seeing similar results in their patients, and I want to know if those results stay stable after YAG capsulotomy.  There is a doctor in PA I think who advertises it on his website, but he indicates that he wants to operate on the dominant eye first to ensure crisp distance vision. He then talks about the possibility of doing LASIK afterwards if there is a refractive error. It makes me wonder if the power on this lens might be a little bit more difficult to calculate than with other monofocals. (It just seems strange that someone would advertise difficulties with power calculation in the same place they are advertising why you should come to his office and get “blended vision.”) I have called ten doctors who offer this lens so far, and have written emails to two. Both emails were not replied to. Most calls were not answered. In one office the person answering the phone insisted it was a monofocal and two pairs of glasses would be necessary. In another they stated it was FDA approved as a monofocal, but when pressed she then indicated that patients could usually read around J5 (light reading glasses only, if any at all) and then politely reminded me that it was a monofocal. In one office, office staff actually called me back two days later to inform me that the doctor would not be returning my call unless I wished to travel 500 miles to come in for a consultation. Nobody permitted me to speak with a doctor who had experience with the lens, and nobody was able to answer my questions.
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177275 tn?1511755244
The eye looking through the IOL is the real color. Calibrate this by looking at something you know to be white. Look at it with each eye. In the IOL eye it will be white and the cataract eye will be off white. Cataract is yellow-brown and changes color perception especially on the blue end of the spectrum. I do not know what IOL the NHS uses I suspect the cheapest they can buy.
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Avatar universal
Hello, you greatly encouraged me last year when I had my first monofocal implant on the NHS.  I was troubled by floaters at the time but have adapted fairly happily to these. As my non-dominant eye had been done already and finally came out at -0.25, and vision in this eye was fairly good (astigmatism 1.0)I, despite annoying Weiss ring, I decided to have the other eye done in the same way.  I was hoping night driving would be okay again as I am the main chauffeur for my teens.   Op was done last Monday.  Apart from shower of tiny floaters which are already abating, I am delighted and can drive in sunglasses easily and use cheap readers to read.   I am very grateful to my surgeon.  Only worry is that the other eye is much more 'yellow' than the 'new' one, so will ask my surgeon to check this next month.  Do you know which IOLs the NHS use?  Try as I might I could never discover this on the web.  By the way, dry eyes much better now.  Stress ref eye ops etc...seemed to be main driver for this!!  All the best, Sue.
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177275 tn?1511755244
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Avatar universal
Oh, now I see above your October 2014 post of why some doctors have not liked this IOL and I would tend to think that might have the result of your choosing a different IOL option.  Since it's now 2016, you may have had the surgery by now.
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Avatar universal
Did you have your cataract surgery, anomalychick?  I found this thread b/c I had never heard of the "Staar nanoflex" IOL which I found a couple of articles by Dr. David Richardson on 'why I like the Staar nanoflex IOL" and I visited the Staar web site (very pretty web design but when you try to figure out WHERE they're headquartered, the address is nowhere to be found on the site.....) Then on this thread, I guess it was, I see it's in Monrovia, CA, which is I think a small town.  Anyway, on the site the 'selling' point is apparently that it's made of a 'bio-friendly' substance called collamer.  They also make 'preloaded' ones of acrylic or silicone.  
Anyway I was wondering if you had had your surgery and it looks like there are cautionary notes regarding this IOL as well as patients' experiences who have liked them a lot.  
Hope it turned out well whatever you chose.
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Avatar universal
The last I heard these were still experimental and not approved in the US.  It is very hard to get reliable information.
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177275 tn?1511755244
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