“Choosing your IOL is the most important decision you’ll make about your cataract surgery — take time to review your options and ask questions.”
What is a cataract, and how is it treated?
The lens inside the eye can become cloudy and hard — a condition known as a cataract. Cataracts develop from normal ageing, an eye injury, or after taking steroid medications. If a cataract changes your vision enough to interfere with daily life, it may need to be removed. Surgery is the only way to remove a cataract. You can choose not to have it removed, but if you don’t, the vision loss will continue to worsen.
What is vision like after cataract removal?
The goal of surgery is to correct the decreased vision caused by the cataract. The surgeon removes the cataract and places a new artificial lens — an intraocular lens, or IOL. Surgery will not correct other causes of reduced vision such as glaucoma, diabetes or age-related macular degeneration, and most people still need glasses or contact lenses afterwards for near and/or distance vision and astigmatism.
Which examinations are required before surgery?
A complete eye examination — measuring your vision with and without glasses, the pressure inside the eye, the curvature of your cornea, the axial length of your eye, the IOL calculation, a microscopic examination of the front of the eye, and a dilated examination of the retina.
A note on measuring your IOL: the final result may differ from what was planned. As the eye heals, the IOL can shift very slightly, and this shift isn’t the same in everyone. People who are highly nearsighted or farsighted, or who have had LASIK or other refractive surgery, are especially difficult to measure precisely.
What types of IOL are available?
There are IOLs to treat nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. This is the most important decision you’ll make about your surgery, so take time to review your options:
- Glasses option (Monofocal): a single-focus IOL set for distance, with separate reading glasses — or set for near, with distance glasses.
- Monovision: two IOLs of different powers, one eye for near and one for distance, allowing many people to read without glasses.
- Multifocal IOL: a newer “deluxe” lens correcting distance plus near or intermediate ranges; usually higher out-of-pocket cost, and glasses may still help clarity.
- Toric IOL: corrects astigmatism from an irregularly shaped cornea; glasses may still be needed for distance or near.