Crystalens Implant

[geb1]

Many of the posts on this forum are regarding problems with premium lenses and looking for solutions. I know that you ask for those with a positive experience to speak up.  My "total 2 eye" vision is pretty good now, although not exactly what I was looking for. I must say, though, that I can't complain much after reading some of the troubles others have gone through, and I sympathize with them. But I did want to add my experience for those who might be considering premium lenses. This forum has been helpful to me, and I hope my post might help others.  I now have 20/20 distance vision (and virtually no reading vision) in one eye with a monofocal implant in 2001 and computer and reading vision (with ~20/30 distance vision) in the other eye which was implanted with a Crystalens in July 2007.  While this is not as good as my vision was years ago.  It is certainly an improvement over the cataract, and it is nice not to have to always use reading glasses to read.  I will go into more detailed in the reply section for those who are interested (because of the 1500 character limit here).  Thank You for providing this service.

[scmite]

A related discussion, lasik with crystalens was started.

[susannahe]

A related discussion, is crystalens right for me was started.

[JodieJ]

Please don't give up!  (There may come a time when you will need to drive at night.)  Go for a third (and maybe a fourth) opinion.  You need to consult the very best, most experienced cataract surgeons in your community.  You also need to obtain a copy of your medical records from your first doctor, and you definitely need to know which lens was implanted.  It's possible that you have Array multifocal IOLs, which are an older version of ReZoom.  In this case, you'd want to see a doctor who is experienced with ReZoom.

There have been other posts recently from people experiencing the same type of problems that you have, so you should check the archives of this site.  I can't guarantee that there is a good solution for you, but I still think that you owe it to yourself to investigate the possibility of improving your vision for the next 20+ years.  Best wishes.  

[Flyingsolo]

Thank you for your reply.
I did see a physician for a second opinion about night driving.  He, too, gave me no satisfaction.  Both doctors just don't want to discuss this with me. They immediately go on to some other subject.
I guess it's just daytime driving forever!

[JodieJ]

The Crystalens was not around 5 1/2 years ago.  I'm guessing that you had a clear lens exchange with monofocal implants, which were set for modified monovision.  Your post mentions problems that your doctor apparently can't solve.  I suggest that you get a second opinion from an experienced cataract surgeon.  Be sure that the new doctor gets a copy of your medical records before s/he sees you.  Best of luck.

[Flyingsolo]

I really don't know if I had Crystalens implanted or not. IT was called CLR.  I'm assuming it's similar.  I didn't have the surgery because of cataracts.  It was entirely elective.
It was 5 1/2 years ago.  I was 61,
The first two months I could read perfectly, no reading glasses.  Then, all of a sudden, I needed over-the-counter readers.
The worst problem I've experienced is not being able to drive at night.  I see very bright halos around headlights and street lights.  Driving at night is out of the question for me.  It's fortunate that I don't need to drive but it would be nice once in a while. My physician never gave me a reason or a solution.  
I wasn't aware (until seeing this forum) that there were several different lenses available.  Would it be possible to have the lenses changed to be rid of the night driving problem? I function well otherwise with my vision.
You are absolutely correct about reading in the exam room.  I noticed that the lighting and the print on the very white paper is easy to read.  At home I can only read without glasses if I'm outside in daylight.  
I'm afraid I  was too anxious to be rid of glasses when I decided to have the lens replacement surgery.  

[Dabsey]

I am one of the unusual very happy reStore people. I had reStore IOL's implanted in both eyes just over 6 months ago and don't wear glasses any more...I have 20/20 and 20/25 distance and reckon I could see a pimple on a mosquito at close range outside in good natural light although I can read quite fine a phone book inside as well...I now have to sit up straight when looking at a computer screen and find sometimes inside I have to hold things in the right position to read it if the lighting is not so good but all in all I think they are wonderful. I have a little starbursting at night but not enough to worry my driving and I am hoping that it might even get better as time goes by. I am wary to recommend them though as I know there are others that havent had the results I have had. I must also add that I had the surgery in a smallish town in Australia and definately not some great flash fancy place with high profile

[Eye-Kant-C]

I agree, it depends what you're expecting to begin with. I was so incredibly disappointed to have severe edge dysphotopsia and much worse reading & intermediate than I had before the surgery. I had no cataracts at all and was promised "no more contacts" and probably no more reading glasses .... ever! I was only using a +1.50 for reading, but fine with the computer not using any. Now I am wearing one contact to see distance -- I couldn't see well enough to drive at night, using readers (+1.50 for EVERYTHING -- reading, computer, even to be able to see what I'm eating!) and am really suffering with the daytime edge glare and nightime extreme edge flare/central flash. It's actually dangerous to drive at night, but I don't have a choice. The Eyeonics people should really be truthful in their advertising. (Glad you're doing well geb1 and Ashley, like you, I'm trying to move past my disappointment and hoping things improve)

[Ashley52]

Thanks.  Actually that email address doesn't work but if you go to their website and click on the email address, it brings up another address to use.
I'm coming from a different place as I did not have significant cataracts.  I had the surgery because of the "promise" of better unassisted vision.  There is quite a difference in the satisfaction level between cataract patients and RLE patients.  I still have high hopes of improvement.

[geb1]

Ashley, Sorry, the email address for Crystalens on my previous post must have been censored by MedHelp.  
The e-mail for Crystalens is contactcrystalens.com
Substitute the "at" symbol for the
I read your post on "Crystalens Explant?" and I see you are having edge effects.  I can tell you that it is not just Crystalens or premium lenses that have edge effects.  My first implant was a monofocal IOL and I have negative dysphotopsia on the outside corner of this eye.  I do have some abberations with the Crystalens like starbursts, but I also have these with the traditional IOL.  Also lights at the edge of my vision create abberations in both lenses although the effects are different.  For the most part I just ignore these or move my head.  I don't like it, but it is better than the alternative.  It is very likely difficult to reproduce a good natural lens with an artificial one, but it is a lot better than a cataract.  Without a lens implant, I would be blind.

[geb1]

I seem to remeber seeing them on the internet before, but I have not seen them recently.  I think they may have been on the Crystalens website, but the site is "Under Construction" now.  I would think that you could contact the Crystalens maker Eyeonics and they would send them to you.  The contact infromation is:

eyeonics, Inc
26970 Aliso Viejo Parkway
Suite 100
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 USA
TEL - 1.866.393.6642 or 949.916.9352
email - ***@****
website: http://www.crystalens.com/

These 'word find' puzzles cause you to "exercise" your eye by decreasing the print size over time.  My Dr gave me ~ 6 weeks of puzzles (1/day) with three different print sizes, but I think there may be more puzzles / options than this.
Hope you can find them.

[Ashley52]

Glad to hear about your positive experience.  You say you got the eye puzzles from your doctor.  I asked mine but he wasn't familiar with them.  Do you (or anyone else) know if they can be purchased commercially?

[Eye-Kant-C]

Thanks for posting. I really do hope someone has good results from Crystalenses!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Geb 1 thank you for sharing your experience with our readers.  Prospective premium patients need to get the good results and the bad results to come to their own conclusions.

JCH III MD

[geb1]

I had a Crystalens implant 7/2/07. You can read more about my pre-op status at Unilateral Lens Implant posted to this forum 6/5/07. In post op I could read part of my hospital bracelet although it took some concentration. Since surgery, my distance vsion has been blurry and does not seem to have improved sinificantly. However, the Dr office says it is 20/30 - it is not nearly as good as ~20/30 I was told I had in one eye before I had before cataracts. Initailly after the Crystalens surgery, I had bad halos, but my eye was purposefully kept dilated for the first five days after the surgery. Since the dialtion went away, the halos have subsided in most cases.  In rooms that are nearly totally dark, there is a halo around a small light. At 2 wks after surgey the Dr office said I am J1, although the Crystalens reading test is biased to produce better results. You read sentences instead of letters so you can "guess" what the sentence says. Even so, my up close vision is good. It has improved since my 2wk visit. I have been using the eye to read as much as possible and regularly did the Crystlens eye puzzles provided by my Dr for about 6 weeks. I can read the computer screen and read most text except fine print w/o glasses. I would like for my distance vision to be better, but I am pleased with the resuts up close. I guess I have a bit of monovision, although, I suspect that the range of my vision is better than if I had a monofocal lens instead of the Crystalens. I have been able to tell there has been improvement in the up close vision over time. At 8 weeks after lens implant surgery, I had YAG laser treatment.  This seemed to provide a slight improvement, but did not appreciably improve my distance vision.