Vision correction with intraocular lens implants

Hey everyone! I was just browsing the Mayo Clinic website and stumbled upon this. Even though it’s listed under their specific services, I didn't really get what it meant at first. A colleague finally explained that they basically implant lenses directly into the eye... which might be an option if someone like me can't handle wearing contact lenses. Has anyone here actually gone through this kind of surgery? I'm curious about what the whole process entails and if anyone dealt with any unexpected side effects. Thanks.

http://www.light.com/verisign-implant-leca-871 Look, I’m pretty sure this is what you were actually talking about. Your actual eye lens—the one physically inside your eye—gets swapped out for a new artificial one. It’s got absolutely nothing to do with contact lenses; that’s a totally different way to fix your vision, just like laser surgery. This specific procedure is usually for people dealing with really high prescriptions or if their cornea isn't ideal for laser stuff. Basically, if the cornea is an issue for lasers, this is the move.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/eye-surgery-options I found something similar to this... I noticed there are about four different types of these procedures out there. I'm trying to figure out which one is actually worth doing without causing long-term issues. I've read some comments saying that getting rid of their prescription was a total game-changer for seeing without glasses, but these lens implants seem okay too. I guess I'm just wondering if they leave any lasting side effects on the eye? Personally, my distance vision isn't an issue, but I still wear glasses, and honestly, they drive me crazy sometimes—especially when they get dirty while I'm working or whatever. I can't really do standard contact lenses, so I'm curious if these surgeries are actually worth the investment.

These lenses get implanted after you have cataract surgery , they’re multifocal. Basically, they're designed for people dealing with age-related farsightedness—presbyopia—so you can finally ditch those reading glasses once and for all. Since this isn't just some quick laser fix, we're talking about actual anesthesia here; they pull your natural lens out and swap it for a synthetic one. If you go through with this, you'll end up with the stuff I linked in my first post; whether it's Verisign, Flex, or those Cachet lenses you mentioned, those are specifically meant to be put in right after cataract surgery.

Here’s a breakdown of how the whole thing goes down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzzAhcthhKo

Aha, I see where you're coming from... so what you're saying is there aren't any lenses available for us to wear when we're younger?

Yeah, it’s doable—my brother actually went through it.

http://www.light.com/installation-ver...achet-leca-871

So, they drill four holes, pump stuff in around there... basically, it's a whole ordeal. You're totally out of it right after the surgery. My brother was doing alright post-op, but his eyes were stinging like crazy, and he had this weird black spot show up in his left eye and everything. At the follow-up, the docs just brushed it off saying it’s all totally normal. It's been two months now, and his vision is mostly fine, though the scar on his left eye is being a real pain and making things look a bit blurry sometimes. His eyes sting occasionally too. He's swapped out his eye drops a few times over these last two months and has headed back to the clinic for checkups a couple of times.

His eyes look pretty standard to me, and he's back to driving, but it's not perfect yet. He’s got another follow-up in a month to see how things are settling—fingers crossed it all works out, damn it.

Andrew Turner67 said:Aha, I see where you're coming from... so what you're saying is there aren't any lenses available for us to wear when we're younger?

Look, those links that @Carl Castillo69 and I dropped are specifically for you, to fix your prescription.

Thanks to both of you for the input. Reading Carl Castillo69’s comment about there being some downsides makes me wonder if this is even worth it. I mean, why drop that kind of cash if you aren't guaranteed the vision you're actually paying for? I had traditional surgery on both eyes about three and a half years ago, and I ended up on medical leave for two months because my eyes were just a bloody mess. Question for Carl Castillo69: Did they give your brother any heads-up about potential side effects? And what happens if he deals with this long-term, rather than just during a temporary recovery period?

hm, how should I put this—yeah, they did, but not exactly in a straight line. Still, he knew damn well what he was signing up for from the jump.

Hey there!

I couldn't find an existing thread about this, so I figured I’d just start my own.
Basically, my prescription is sitting at -10 and -11, which means I'm totally out of the running for LASIK. My next best bet is getting intraocular lenses implanted.
They basically sit in a little pocket between the cornea and the iris.
The cost for the surgery itself is pretty much on par with laser correction, but it seems like only a handful of specialized clinics in the US actually offer it.

There are a few things I'm trying to figure out.

1. Has anyone here actually gone through with this procedure? I'd love to hear your stories.

2. Besides Mayo Clinic, does anyone know which other major hospitals or eye centers perform this? I haven't had much luck finding a full list.

3. Does any clinic take Medicare, and if so, what would the out-of-pocket cost look like after coverage kicks in?

Thanks! 🙂

I’m curious too. How on earth did your vision get that bad?

I’m fifteen. I started out with a -1.0 prescription and refused to wear glasses back then. Now, I’m sitting at a -2.5 in one eye and a -2.5 with a 1.25 cylinder in the other. Honestly, I have zero desire to spend the rest of my life squinting through frames. I want to switch to contact lenses. Is that actually a smart move? Please, I need an answer.

I’ve been this way since day one. Things just haven't exactly trended upward for me.
And honestly, I am pretty much fed up with the same old budget meals every single night. 😁

I'm just being cautious here. We're looking at technology that's barely a decade old, so there are still a ton of unknowns.
Plus, I’m really trying to keep costs down. Why would I drop more than $6.75 on the folks over at Light when other providers actually have contracts with Medicare?
I just need to figure out which provider that is. 😬

I've been Googling for an hour straight and I'm coming up empty. 🤷

Sandra King2 said:I’ve been this way since day one. Things just haven't exactly trended upward for me.
And honestly, I am pretty much fed up with the same old budget meals every single night. 😁

I'm just being cautious here. We're looking at technology that's barely a decade old, so there are still a ton of unknowns.
Plus, I’m really trying to keep costs down. Why would I drop more than $6.75 on the folks over at Light when other providers actually have contracts with Medicare?
I just need to figure out which provider that is. 😬

I've been Googling for an hour straight and I'm coming up empty. 🤷

haha money isn't an issue for me 😁 haha why are you so fed up with beans and rice? xD

Honestly, they’ve even started feeling soft enough to irritate my eyes. After wearing them for more than five or six hours, I start dealing with redness and irritation. Plus, I can't exactly wear them at the beach because the salt water just eats away at them. I usually just recognize people by the color of their swimsuits instead. 😬

1. My brother went through this—I don't know the technical jargon or whatever—but basically, they implanted lenses in his eyes. He’s on drops here and there, and he deals with headaches and eye strain from time to time. His vision is fine for the most part, though things get blurry if his eyes get too dry.
The way he puts it is pretty simple: none of these surgeries are actually worth it. He only did it because he needs to go skydiving and work on offshore rigs/oil platforms. If you can just wear glasses, honestly, that's a better move than any surgery, but hey, it's your life and your call.

2. He worked at Mayo Clinic, so that's my only real experience with this stuff.

3. 🤣 Are you fucking kidding me??? Where have you been living? In this country, everyone has to pay their own way ($27 every single month even if you're unemployed), and you're sitting here expecting Medicare to just foot the bill for eye surgery?

Unless I'm completely losing my mind and don't know how things work here.🤔

So, I heard about this guy who went in to get lens implants, and he thought Medicare was going to pick up the tab.
But I just found out he’s actually getting surgery for cataracts, not just correcting his vision prescription. 😬
It's a completely different ballgame. They basically swap out the natural lens for an artificial one.
Which means, yeah, there won't be any discounts or coverage left for him. 😁

As for the side effects? Honestly, I haven't got a clue. A neighbor of mine had the exact same thing done about three years ago, and he hasn't had a single issue since. 🤷

From what I understand, Medicare only covers things like actual eye diseases—cataracts and stuff like that. Having a high prescription isn't considered an illness.

Sandra King2 — maybe try switching to a different brand of lentils? Something with better quality? Or perhaps some artificial tears might help?

I’m looking to connect with anyone who has experience performing intraocular lens implantations. If you’ve done this procedure, could you please shoot me a DM? I have a few questions I'd love to run by you.🙂

Basically, during cataract surgery, they use ultrasound phacoemulsification to break up that cloudy, damaged lens—just pulverizing it, really—and then they vacuum it all out before dropping a new intraocular lens right into the capsule.

If you don't have a lens in there, the eye is aphakic, which just means it’s incredibly hyperopic—extreme farsightedness.

Once you’ve got an artificial intraocular lens in place, you’re considered pseudophakic.

Vision usually gets corrected back to normal refraction, though you might still struggle a bit with accommodation—you know, that whole thing where your eyes focus on things up close.

Now, if you go with the newer, more expensive high-end lenses—multifocal ones, like the RE-ZOOM models
—you can actually bypass that accommodation issue entirely.

Bottom line: you only get these intraocular lenses implanted after your original lens is gone, whether that's due to cataracts, some other structural damage, or if you were born without one.