crystalline lens replacement in cataract surgery

[srtz]

I am 74 years old in excellent health.  A year ago I had surgery for a macular hole.  I am now considering cataract surgery for the eye.  I can nicely see both near and far without glasses but my vision improves when I wear my glasses.  I am debating whether I should have a Crystalense replacement or go with the regular one.  What are the pros and cons?  Will my eye be 20/20 after the surgery?  

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

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[JodieJ]

I'm guessing that you are currently mildly nearsighted, since you stated that you can see both near and far without glasses.  If you got a Crystalens HD and everything went PERFECTLY, you'd have 20/20 distance vision (assuming that your corrected distance vision is currently 20/20), excellent intermediate vision, and pretty good near vision.  But of course, perfect results are never guaranteed.  Read through the many recent threads on this forum (and the expert forum) about many people's poor outcomes with the Crystalens.  You can use the search feature to pull them up.

Making IOL power predictions is not an exact science regardless of which IOL you choose.  But you'd definitely have a better chance for a problem-free outcome with an aspheric monofocal IOL.  A mini-monovision type of correction might work well for you (distance vision in dominant eye, intermediate vision in dominant eye), which would reduce your dependency on glasses.