Choosing Your Intraocular Lens

FACT: Wearing bifocal glasses increases you risk of falling and breaking a hip by 6 times! (falls are the leading cause of death from injury among older adults in the US)

FACT: Your vision becomes MORE important as you age, because your hearing and mobility diminish.

FACT: Macular degeneration and diabetes can steal our central vision, making the focusing of the area just outside your central vision more critical. Only the newer upgraded implants focus light clearly in these areas.

FACT: Cataracts increase your risk of being in a car accident 6-8 times!

In a clinical study, 80% of patients receiving the PanOptix Lens (multifocal) IOL reported that they “never” need to wear glasses following bilateral cataract surgery. They are able to read a book, work on the computer, and drive a car – day or night – and play golf or tennis with an increased freedom from glasses. In fact, patients were so pleased with their vision, nearly 97% of patients said they would have the PanOptix Lens implanted again.

Ophthalmologist and Oculoplastic surgeon Dr. Lisa Bunin provides her patients from the Lehigh Valley region of Eastern Pennsylvania with the highest quality care in a friendly, state-of-the-art office.

Trained in ophthalmology and ophthalmic plastic surgery at some of the nation’s top ranked medical schools including Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Emory University, Dr. Bunin offers expert medical eye care services and surgery as well as routine eye care. Dr. Bunin can treat and diagnose patients that suffer from eye issues like tired eyes, itchy eyes, watery eyes, eye infections, astigmatism, and other vision related problems. Dr. Bunin also offers more extensive eye care services such as custom cataract surgery and macular degeneration treatments.

Which IOL (Intraocular Lens) Do You Choose?

Types of cataract implants

There are several intraocular lenses that you can chose from:

• Basic (Monofocal)
• Monovision
• Multifocal
• Limbal Relaxing Incisions (LRI)
• Toric Lens for Astigmatism

Basic Lens (Monofocal)

The monofocal lens implant is a lens with a single focus. Typically, patients will need BIFOCAL glasses after surgery. Monofocal lenses are covered by most insurance plans and Medicare as part of your cataract surgery, but they are usually not the newest material or asphericity,and have more minor aberrations and distortions in vision. Some patients are more sensitive to this and have vague complaints, while others don’t notice anything because the vision is better than it was with the cataract. This lens does NOT correct any astigmatism, so glasses are always needed for that.

Monovision Option

Monovision Option is for patients who are accustomed to wearing contact lenses with one eye corrected for near and one eye corrected for distance. They have the option of keeping monovision after removing their cataracts by using this lens option. May use in conjunction with limbal Relaxing Incisions (LRI) if astigmatism needs to be corrected.

Multifocal Now Offering PanOptix Lens

There was a time when ophthalmologists could only restore a patient’s distance vision after cataract surgery. But today, thanks to the breakthrough PanOptix Lens, Crystalens, and TECNIS Synergy Multifocal intraocular lens (IOL’s), you can enjoy crisp, clear, glasses-free vision from near to far. Unlike standard cataract replacement lenses, multifocal IOL lenses correct your cataracts and restore your full range of vision. They focus like your eyes’ natural lens. Most patients never need glasses or contacts again.

Limbal Relaxing Incisions (LRI)

This is a vision correction procedure that can help reduce astigmatism and thereby improve your vision. Limbal Relaxing Incision (LRI’s) may be most helpful for people with significant Astigimatism who have been corrected for cataracts using a Monovision lens option or with Multifocal IOLs. Even small amounts of astigatism can cause blurring and distortion, so correcting this at the time of  cataract surgery helps to markedly improve vision!

Toric Lens for Astigimatism

The Toric Lens Implant is for cataract patients who have moderate to severe astigmatism, and who do not wish to wear eyeglasses to see clearly at a distance. The Toric Lens Implants correct your astigmatism during cataract surgery. Patients will then be independent of glasses for tasks such as driving, that require clear distance vision.

Toric Lens Implants do not correct Presbyopia, and thus even with Toric Lens implants to correct astigmatism after cataract surgery, most patient will still need reading glasses or bifocals to be able to comfortably perform near vision tasks.