For the last Fifty years the goal when performing cataract surgery has been to replace the natural lens of the eye which has grown cloudy and yellow through aging with an artificial lens. Fifty years of advancement in that technology and tens of millions of surgeries have lead to the first artificial lens which can actually mimic the function of a perfect lens in a young person. This type of lens is called an accommodating lens because it is flexible and therefore able to change focus in response to effort by our focusing muscles in our eyes just as the natural lens does for people under the age of forty.

The first lens of this type is called the Crystalens. The Crystalens received FDA approval in 2004 and has subsequently gone through several small improvements resulting in an increased depth of focus compared to an ordinary lens implant. The Crystalens has the great advantage of allowing virtually all patients to see at both distance and intermediate distance without using glasses. In addition, most patients are able to read most of the time without glasses for all but the finest of print. In practice, the Crystalens is able to satisfy the visual needs of most patients for most of their daily activities without glasses. It is particularly good for driving, computers, cell phones, and newspaper sized print.

The current Crystalens is limited in one aspect: not all patients are able to use their eye muscles effectively enough to give good reading vision all the time, especially for finer print. In the future we will see numerous other accommodating lenses that attempt to better simulate the natural human lens in all cases. Researchers hope to some day create lenses that will actually perform better than the natural lens, and be fully adjustable throughout our lives as we age. It is likely that in the not too distant future we may be replacing the natural human lens in patients of all ages, not just older patients, as a method of improving the vision of young and old alike.

Good candidates for the Crystalens should have realistic goals for their vision and receive a complete evaluation by an Ophthalmologist who specializes in deluxe lens implantation. EyeHealth Northwest has surgeons with vast experience in the implantation of these types of state of the art lenses. Our surgery centers have access to all FDA approved lenses. EyeHealth Northwest is the largest provider of deluxe lens implants in the Portland Metro area.