Our eyes have natural lenses within, which the lens bends light rays to help us see our best. A healthy lens is clear, but when someone has developed cataracts, the lens becomes cloudy. If you’ve ever driven with dirty glasses or a foggy windshield, your vision is reduced, and it’s often blurry, less colorful, or overall just harder to see.
At Long Island Ophthalmic Concepts, we have four convenient locations in the greater New York City area including Bellmore, Great Neck, Huntington, and Littll Neck! Join us in today’s post as we explore multifocal implants for those with cataracts.
Cataracts are a natural and common occurrence with aging that can begin to appear around the age of 40 because of a protein breakdown in the lens. As the proteins continue to unravel, this is where our vision becomes more cloudy, and it’s increasingly difficult to see.
In addition to a cloudy lens, the symptoms of cataracts include:
While there is no complete cure in preventing cataracts, research has found that a well-balanced diet rich in antioxidants, specifically lutein and zeaxanthin, were associated with a decreased risk of cataracts.
In two very well known studies from the National Eye Institute, AREDS and AREDS2 found that taking a daily eye supplement containing a specific formulation of vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, and omega-3 fatty acids helped prevent or slow the progression of cataracts.
So, if you’re looking to prevent cataracts and support healthy aging to your eyes, look to the foods you’re eating!
Currently, the only solution to treat cataracts is through surgery where a multifocal implant is placed. Essentially the natural lens that has become cloudy and impacted your vision is removed, and a synthetic lens is placed. This is one of the most common and routine eye surgeries that is an outpatient treatment so you can go home after the surgery.
Multifocal implants not only address cataracts but improves vision and the reliance on contact lenses or glasses.
People with cataracts tend to opt for multifocal implant lenses because it comprehensively corrects vision, both nearsighted and farsighted vision, as opposed to a standard single-lens implant where you only have the option of one or the other. And as we mentioned above, it can greatly reduce the need for any kind of corrective eyewear or lenses.
The benefits of a multifocal implant include:
As you age the dependence on some sort of corrective eyeglasses or lenses dramatically increases, and sometimes you even have to use both — hello reading glasses while wearing contacts!
If you’re stuck with the inconvenience of switching back and forth from contact lenses to reading glasses and hate keeping track of all your corrective eyewear, there is a solution! Or, perhaps you even carry a magnifying glass to read receipts, check price tags, or read the fine print on important documents.
So, if you’re ready to ditch all the extra glasses and magnifiers, consider multifocal implants!
The following multifocal implants have been approved by the FDA and include:
While there are three multifocal implant options, what is the right choice for you? Each lens offers something a little different from near, immediate, and distance vision to improving night vision.
Because this impacts your vision, it’s vital to partner with an ophthalmologist you know and trust. Work with them to discuss your cataract surgery options in addition to going into detail about your multifocal lens implant options.
The Long Island Ophthalmic Concepts Difference
Not only do we have four convenient locations — Bellmore, Great Neck, Huntington, and Little Neck — we have an amazing team of ophthalmologists skilled in cataract surgery in addition to providing the leading cataract lenses.
