Newsroom - Cataract Eye Surgery
Offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Published: The Oklahoman,
July 19, 2005
Implants give cataracts patients chance of better sight
By Jim Stafford
Special to The Oklahoman
When Jan Howard's
vision began to blur, the 57-year-old Edmond
resident made an appointment with her eye doctor to
see if she needed a new prescription on her lenses.
"I just thought my contacts weren't up to snuff,"
Howard said.
The doctor recommended her for laser eye surgery,
but she was stunned to learn that she wasn't a
candidate for the surgery because she had cataracts,
a condition she assumed only afflicted senior
citizens. She's a baby boomer, after all.
"I associated cataracts with people 80 and over,"
Howard said. "(The doctor) said, 'No, it's not that
uncommon. More and more, we are seeing cataracts in
younger people.'"
Eventually she arrived in the Edmond office of BVA
Advanced Eye Care clinic where Dr. Brad Taylor, an
ophthalmologist and partner in the clinic, examined
her eyes. Taylor told her about a new high-tech
implant called "Crystalens®" that promised to restore
her vision in all the sight lines, near, distant and
mid-range.
"I said, 'Let's do it,'" she said.
So, the Crystalens® technology was implanted first in
one eye and the second 14 days later. The results
astounded Howard, who said she has not put on a pair
of glasses since the surgery six months ago.
"It's almost like a miracle," she said.
For thousands of Oklahomans each year who suffer
from cataracts, cataract eye surgery clears the
cloudiness. But until the recent appearance of a new
generation of what are known as "intraocular" lenses
such as Crystalens®, patients were likely to need
reading glasses after the recovery period.
Taylor and clinic founder Dr. Brad Britton are the
first two ophthalmic surgeons in Oklahoma certified
to perform Crystalens® implant surgery. Their
counterparts at the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute
perform similar implant procedures using a rival
technology known as ReSTOR® Lens.
"With traditional cataract surgery you just open up
that capsule bag, take the cataract out and put the
new artificial lens back in that bag," Taylor said.
"But the old ones were just designed to center right
in that bag and not move. With some of the
technology as (scientists) were developing soft
material for those implants, they found that certain
implants could move a little bit forward and
backward in the eye.
"They moved that a few steps forward to put an
actual hinge on the lens so that it can move forward
and backward in the eye as the muscles relax and
contract."
Taylor and Britton have performed about 120 of the
Crystalens® procedures in less than a year, despite
added out-of-pocket costs of $1,500 to $1,800 over
what insurance companies cover for traditional
cataract surgery.
Only in May did the Medicare agency approve
high-tech implant procedures such as Crystalens® and
ReSTOR® lens for older Americans enrolled in the
federal health care program.
Howard, meanwhile, has become an evangelist for the
procedure that restored her vision and freed her
from glasses and contacts.
"It was fabulous, and I have told everybody I know,"
she said. "Obviously, you can tell I am sold.
There's an awful lot of baby boomers out there."
|
For more information about Lasik, cataracts, eyelids or other procedures, please call or e-mail us today.
See Better. Live Better.
|
