With today’s advanced lens procedures, patients now have a choice in the type of lens that is implanted during cataract or clear lens extraction surgery. Unlike conventional “single vision” intraocular lenses (IOLs), accommodating IOLs are lens implants that are designed to help patients see at varying distances using different points of focus.
The objective of an accommodating IOL is to provide functional vision at different distances to reduce the use of glasses. Although they might still prefer to wear glasses for extended reading, most accommodating IOL patients experience independence from glasses for tasks such as driving, watching TV, reading menus, and using their computers and cell phones.
The Accommodative IOL (intraocular lens implant) is designed to mimic the movement of the natural crystalline lens of the eye. When we are younger, the natural lens is very flexible and easily moves back and forth within the eye as we change our visual focus from up close to distance objects. As we age however, most commonly in our early to mid 40s, the eye loses its flexibility and can no longer easily accommodate those changes in our focus. To imitate the action of the young natural lens, the accommodating IOLs are able to move and/or change shape inside the eye to allow focus at multiple distances.
Like a multifocal IOL, the accommodating IOL is implanted inside the eye and requires your surgeon to calculate and choose the optimal implant power prior to surgery.
