Cataract Surgery

Cataract and You: Your Journey Back to Good Vision

Although cataracts are a fact of life for most people over 65 years old, with today’s exceptional technologies, you now have the option to improve your vision at the same time as your cataract procedure. With laser vision correction and cataract removal, you can achieve independence from glasses and contacts for most, if not all, of your daily activities. Check out this informative patient video:

At NVISION, our caring staff of ophthalmologists, optometrists and clinical staff will provide you with the most technologically advanced, proven cataract and laser vision correction procedures available today.

Let the NVISION team help you with your journey back to good vision.

What Is a Cataract?

A cataract is a clouding or opacity of the eye’s natural lens. With a cataract, the eye’s lens becomes hard and opaque, vision starts to cloud, and eyesight progressively blurs. Some individuals cannot see bright colors at their true intensity or may see halos, and some even experience double vision.

How Cataracts Are Formed and Affect Your Vision

The eye’s lens is made of protein and water. When the proteins clump together, a cataract is formed. In a normal eye, light passes through the eye’s lens and falls on the retina, forming an image. However, if there is a cataract, the cataract causes the light to become scattered so it does not pass through to the retina, and no image is formed.  cataracts are usually formed by medication or disease (such as diabetes) or caused by increasing age (about 90 percent of people older than 65 years old have a cataract).

Surgery Is the Only Option for Cataract Removal

Without surgically removing the cataract, most patients with cataracts will have blurred vision, if not complete blindness. Surgically removing the cataract is the only way to restore vision and see the world clearly once again.

NVISION’s Approach to Treating Cataracts

The Intraocular Lens: a Replacement for Your Eye’s Natural Lens

When a cataract causes the eye’s lens to lose its clarity, the only option is to replace it with an intraocular lens (also known as an IOL), an artificial lens that replaces the patient’s natural lens and restores the patient’s ability to see.

Intraocular lenses are artificial lenses that are implanted behind the cornea during surgery. The lens is permanent (but can be surgically removed if necessary), needs no maintenance, and can remain in the eye for the patient’s entire life.

NVISION surgeons utilize the most advanced femtosecond laser LenSx® to make the corneal incisions, break apart the cloudy cataract lens and create a perfect size capsulotomy.

Intraocular Lenses and Your Vision

Three Different Types of Intraocular Lenses

Ophthalmologists in NVISION’s Cataract Program are exceptionally experienced, having been involved in clinical trials and the development of a variety of brands of intraocular lenses.

NVISION doctors recommend the following proven types of IOLs for their patients:

• Standard or Monofocal Lenses — for lens replacement. Patients can choose near or distance vision and will most likely need to wear glasses or contacts for vision correction.
• Astigmatism Correcting Lenses
• Toric IOLs — for lens replacement with correction of astigmatism. Patients with Toric lenses most likely will not need glasses or contacts, but they may still need reading glasses for close-up vision. Patients with astigmatism will also have sharper distance vision with Toric lenses than with standard lenses.
• Presbyopic Correcting Lenses
• Multifocal IOL — among the brands available are Restor and Tecnis
• Accomodating IOLs — among the most common brands are Crystalens
• All of the presbyopic correcting lenses give you a range of distance, intermediate, and close-up vision, reducing or eliminating your need for glasses or contacts, including reading glasses.

Your NVISION ophthalmologist will consult with you about which type of intraocular lens is right for you.

Refractive Lens Exchange for Patients With Other Vision Conditions

Patients who have other vision conditions can also gain vision improvement with the implantation of intraocular lenses.

Vision conditions, such as myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), presbyopia (the inability to focus close-up), and/or astigmatism(which occurs when the cornea is shaped like a football with two different curvatures, resulting in images appearing blurry or ghost-like), are generally treatable with an intraocular lenses.

Intraocular lenses are not just for cataract patients. They are also used to correct vision in patients without cataracts. Patients who have refractive lens exchange will never experience cataracts.

The surgical process is the same as cataract surgery.

How the Intraocular Lens Is Implanted Into the Eye

To implant the intraocular lens, the surgeon must first remove the eye’s natural lens. The natural lens is broken up into small pieces with an ultrasonic probe, using a procedure called phacoemulsification.

After removing the old lens material using gentle suction, the surgeon makes a small incision in the cornea and inserts the new intraocular lens through this opening, positioned exactly behind the pupil. The incision is then closed.

The entire procedure typically takes about 15 minutes and is performed under local anesthesia on an outpatient basis.

Most patients are able to return to their normal daily activities within 24–48 hours. Full recovery can take about two weeks, after which you can resume all your normal activities. Vision recovery can take up to three months. Your NVISION patient counselor will review the specific recovery process prior to your procedure.

Cataract Surgery Coverage by Medicare and Private Insurance

NVISION accepts Medicare and most private insurance plans. Medicare and private insurance will generally offer coverage only for standard monofocal lens implants. This means that patients have a choice of either improving close-up or distance vision, resulting on a continued dependence on glasses or contact lenses for their vision needs.

NVISION offers advanced lens technology as an exciting option for your cataract procedure. Using these lenses helps patients reduce their dependence on glasses or contacts most of the time. Medicare and most private insurance plans do not offer coverage for the advanced lens technology.

Your patient counselor can check on the specific benefits from your insurance provider.

NVISION Financing: Making Cataract Surgery Affordable for You

At NVISION, our goal is to make your procedure affordable and easy while helping you meet their vision goals. NVISION offers great financing options to make your procedure affordable for you, including up to 24-month, no-interest financing.

Your patient counselor will discuss the available financing options with you at your pre-procedure consultation.

The NVISION Difference

NVISION centers are different and unique from other vision correction centers in many ways. Among them are:

• Exceptional ophthalmologists who perform more cataract surgeries than most other ophthalmology practices in Southern California.
• State-of-the-art diagnostic and surgical equipment. Better surgical equipment means faster, safer, and more precise procedures.
• Experienced surgeons, optometrists, patient counselors, and clinical staff who really care and provide a comfortable environment for every patient, making him or her feel like family.
• Personalized service and extensive pre-op testing to ensure that all patients’ unique cataract and vision correction needs are met.
• Support from local optometrists with more than 1,300 eye doctors referring their patients to NVISION surgery centers.

About NVISION and Its Cataract Program

NVISION has 12 centers in Southern California, each led by ophthalmologists who are pioneers in refractive surgery and cataract surgery.  NVISION surgeons participate in developing and trialing new vision correction technologies with major pharmaceutical companies, including Alcon, Allergan and Bausch & Lomb. In fact, NVISION doctors have recently completed trials in various areas of refractive surgery and cataract surgery, giving them the inside edge on the latest technologies for your vision correction.

Imagine being able to see the world clearly again!

Contact us today, and one of our patient counselors will contact you shortly CLICK HERE.  Call 1-866-348-6890 and begin your journey back to good vision!

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