Cataract Surgery
At my annual eye exam June 19, 2014, my optometrist said that new glasses would not help a lot anymore, due to my cataracts. He recommended an opthamologist who did multiple types of implants, about 30 miles away.
On July 9, 2014 I had my cataract exam. Lots of tests. Had a nice long discussion with the Doctor about my options.
Monofocal lenses; set for distance, with a .5 to .75 diopter difference for better reading. Cheapest, fully covered by Medicare and my BCBS insurances. But would probably need glasses for ALL distances because of astigmatism.
Multifocal lenses, Tecnis or AcrySof ReStor. Premium lens so out-of -pocket costs of around $2000 per eye. NOT recommended due to many patient complaints. Astigmatism is the enemy of mutifocals.
Toric lenses, recommended for my astigmatism correction (about 1.5D in each eye). He does not do torics with traditional surgery because the results are so much better with laser and the Optiwave Refractive Analysis (ORA) System to insure correct placement and power of the lens. He uses Verifeye, which is the new version of ORA and says it give excellent results. But would probably need glasses for reading and intermediate (computer distance) vision.
Accommodative Toric lenses, Crystalens Trulign. Same as the Torics, but with the probability of good vision at all distances, including reading. May need drugstore readers for reading small print or low-light situations, such as menus in a restaurant. Out of pocket cost of around $2500 per eye. Laser and ORA are also included in that price.
His 1st recommendation is the Crystalens Trulign, 2nd the single vision torics.