Possible Issues

Issues Regarding Implant Lenses and Surgery

Whether one has an enhanced or a monofocal lens implanted after cataract surgery, many of the risks are the same. But, the enhanced lens does present unique challenges:

• Most patients will report some halos, especially when working in dim lighting or when looking at lights, e.g., headlights. The halo is caused by the fact that the multifocal lens transmits two images at all times, a near image and a far image. This technology results in a slight reduction of contrast vision and may cause some night driving difficulties. This will lessen within a few weeks. Very few patients will experience persistent ghosting, which may be treated by using glasses or special eye drops. The Crystalens transmits continuous focuses and does not have the concentric rings, so the halo effect is less.

The following issues can be present with either the monofocal or enhanced lens implant, but, we will repeat them here:

• At some point after surgery, the posterior capsule that holds the implants may become cloudy. A procedure to create a permanent opening to the capsule fixes the problem.
• After surgery, all of the astigmatism might not be gone. Again, a procedure may need to be done to decrease the amount of astigmatism.
• If there’s any significant deviation from ideal vision correction, a lens exchange may be performed. Every effort will be taken to avoid this outcome.
• Nationally, approximately 1 in 1,000 of people having lens implant procedures get an infection. In our Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC), our rate is much lower than the national average. We have performed at least 6,000 surgeries in our ASC and have seen only 1 case of post-surgical infection, not approximately 6 as would be expected. This 1 case was successfully treated with antibiotics, as are most infections.