Symfony IOL Implantation Procedure

[Petey212]

Some background: I'm 49 years old- very active in sports, spend a good deal of work time using a computer and in good overall health.  About two years ago I was diagnosed with a Cataract and my doctor provided some lens options.  Multifocal, Monovision or standard monofocal lens.  I was not thrilled with potential multifocal side effects, monovision (I tried that with contacts and didn't like it), Monofocal offered good distance vision, but I didn't want to sacrifice intermediate and near if at all possible.  I decided to wait until technology improved.  It sounds like the Symfony IOL is a very good option- I realize it's not perfect, but does well at distance &  intermediate vision which are my biggest interests.   If near vision is good too - that would be a major benefit.  After two years of putting it off  I now have to act as I'm at the point where the cataract has gotten worse and is significantly interfering with my daily life.

Here is my question - my doctor has done many cataract procedures and is well respected. However, he's never used Symfony and I'd be the first person he uses this lens on.   Is the procedure for pre-surgical measurements, lens implantation/placement, etc. different with the Symfony than a standard IOL?   Does this lens type require experience to get it just right?   Will his vast experience with other lens be sufficient or is there a learning curve?   I found another doctor about about a 5 hour drive away who participated in the symfony FDA trials so he has experience, but it would be very challenging for me to travel that far to get it done.

[SoftwareDeveloper]

I've been distracted, but I should emphasize that the lens is physically overall the same size, shape, and material as  other widely used Tecnis lenses, monofocals and multifocals, and so the method to implant it is the same. I had no concerns being the first patient an experienced surgeon implanted with a Symfony. Determining the lens power to use is the same process for whatever lens you get, they merely plug a different constant in related to the particular lens (though I'm guessing it might be the same for the various Tecnis lenses even if their optics are different, but I hadn't checked).

[JohnHaganMD]

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[JohnHaganMD]

The surgery and measurements are the same.  IOL formula have the ability to be individualized as more surgical results are fed into them so that would be the primary difference however for most cases talking about an error of plus/minus 0.25 to 0.50 diopter.

[SoftwareDeveloper]

[i don't see the prior post I made, posting this   since I'd read sometimes that to work around a bug, posting something new might force the last post to show]

[Petey212]

Thanks- the comment is now showing.  Also thank you for all of your very detailed answers on this site.  it has been extraordinarily helpful to have such an abundance of technical information as well as your personal experience.

[JohnHaganMD]

Best of luck