When my sister was in elementary school, she started always sitting in the front row of desks at school. One of her teachers noticed this habit and arranged a meeting with my parents. This caring teacher told my parents that she thought my sister needed glasses. When my sister visited an optometrist, this professional diagnosed her with a severe case of astigmatism. He also informed my parents that she was nearsighted as well. Due to her eye issues, my sister had to start wearing glasses all of the time. Her new glasses helped her tremendously in school. She no longer had to sit in the front of the classroom in order to view the notes placed on the board. On this blog, you will discover the importance of getting your kids’ eyes checked by an optometrist before enrolling them in school.
Until recently, having cataract surgery would fix the problem of a lens that was occluded, causing you to have vision that was cloudy or blurry. If you wore glasses for other vision problems, the surgery did not help. However, in 2003 multifocal and accommodating intraocular lenses were created. If used to replace your natural lens your vision can be restored to near perfect.
If you are going to have cataract surgery and have other vision problems, here are some options you have to correct the problem and keep you from needing to wear glasses:
Multifocal Lenses
Multifocal lenses are just that. The lenses are created to allow you to see at different distances by looking through a different portion of the lens. This is the same way bi- or trifocals work. However, the action required on your part to look through the different areas is done automatically; it is the same way you would adjust your visual distance normally.
Accommodating Lenses
A normal eye lens is flexible. It moves, contracts and thins out as you change your focus. This is how you are able to see at multiple distances. An accommodating lens does the same thing. As the muscles in your eye adjust for different distances, the lens is altered to accommodate the change.
Fixed Focus Monofocal Lenses
Fixed focus monofocal lenses are designed to give you the same vision distance across the whole lens. You may choose to have your vision set for a near, intermediate or far distance. However, you will still need glasses to properly see the other distances. Some people choose to have a different focal point in each eye, for example close vision in the right eye and far vision in the left.
The main reason people choose these lenses is financial. If your insurance will not cover the lenses that allow you to see at multiple distances, you will have to pay the difference between them and monofocal lenses.
Cataract surgery has some a long way since the first intraocular lens was designed. People would have to have the surgery, and then continue to wear corrective lenses to see well. There are now even Toric intraocular lenses that will correct an astigmatism. If your optometrist tells you that you have cataracts forming over your lenses, talk to him or her about the option of having lenses that will enable you to see without your glasses.
Share1 May 2015
