Refractive Lens Exchange, or Natural Lens Replacement, is a process where the natural lens is replaced by an advanced lens Implant to correct vision. This same procedure is branded by some companies and clinics as Clarivu or NuVu or PreLex.
We are one of the original clinics offering this revolutionary treatment for Presbyopia or age-related loss of reading vision with over 25 years’ experience.
Viewpoint offers the full range of advanced implants to customise your treatment and to give you the vision you want.
Following removal of your natural lens, an intraocular lens is placed in the same position as your natural lens. It remains there permanently. The intraocular lens offers significant advantages:
When you have your surgery, the capsule that held your own natural lens is left in place. With time, this can thicken and become cloudy, impairing your vision. All that is required is a few seconds of YAG laser treatment in the clinic to ‘polish’ away the cloudy capsule. This usually restores clear vision within a few hours.
Multifocal Implants have the ability to split the light that enters your eye into two or more images. This allows you to focus far away as well as close up. Newer implants such as the Fine Vision Trifocal and extended depth of focus TECNIS® Symfony IOL deliver a continuous full range of high quality vision with reduced incidence of halos and glare comparable to older multifocal IOL such as the Restore and Rezoom lens. Numerous clinics offer these lenses but give the standard procedure with their own proprietary names such as Clarivu, etc. We are not tied to any such lens manufacturer or technique. Each lens has its advantages and disadvantages. The choice of implants will be discussed with you and most appropriate lens to suit your specific needs will be recommended for you.
Since Refractive Lens Exchange is small incision surgery, it offers many quality-of-life benefits to the patient:
- Early return of good vision (within a few hours in most cases)
- Normal or near normal vision within days of surgery
- Large degree of long sight or short sight can be eliminated
- Astigmatism can be addressed during the surgery
- No postoperative padding of the eye
- Very few restrictions after surgery – i.e. normal household, recreational, and even occupational activities may be resumed within a few days
- Significantly reduced need for aftercare and follow-up visits compared with conventional surgery
- Both eyes can be treated on the same occasion
- Removal of your natural lens means you will not develop cataracts as you get older
- Permanent solution to your focusing problem!
Surgeons at Viewpoint Vision were one of the first in UK to offer these lenses to certain, suitable individuals.
These new lenses are now available which promise some degree of focusing for near and far distance – so called ACCOMMODATING lenses.
The accommodating lenses are more flexible, like your natural lens. Like your natural lens they can move or alter shape within your eyes to alter your focus from far to near. Mr Chitkara was the first surgeon in the world to use the Tetraflex accommodating lens and in fact helped to design the lens. The Tetraflex lens is now the most popular accommodating lens in use within the UK.
During consultation, we will discuss with you in detail the choice of lens used and the technique which will be most appropriate for your needs.
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