The need for reading glasses or bifocals as we age may begin fading from sight with the latest generation of intraocular lenses.

About a year ago, St. John’s Clinic – Eye Specialists were among the first to receive the ReSTOR® lens, a new surgically implanted lens that can allow patients who have trouble seeing at arms length to see near, intermediate and far distances without glasses or contacts.
Previous generations of implanted lenses corrected the cloudiness caused by cataracts and could improve seeing far distances, but most patients still needed reading glasses to see intermediate distances and close up.
The procedure, in which the ophthalmologist makes a tiny incision, removes the patient’s natural lens and replaces it with the acrylic ReSTOR lens, takes about 10-15 minutes. Patients are advised to take it easy for the rest of the day and return to their regular routine the following day.

“The procedure was amazingly painless,” says Jill Kolling, a retired Springfield Public Schools teacher. “I had a local anesthetic, so I had sensations of dryness in my eye, but that was the only uncomfortable part.”

Kolling received the ReSTOR lens in her left eye in June 2005 and in her right eye the following August. She had depended on contacts to correct her nearsightedness since she was a teenager.
“I was initially interested in Lasik, but at my age, I would still have had to wear reading glasses afterward,” Kolling says. “Since the ReSTOR lens corrects everything, we decided it was my best option.”

Surgical techniques using the ReSTOR lens can fix far-sightedness and near-sightedness, and improve vision at computer and reading distances as well. The lens also can correct presbyopia, a pre-cataract condition in which near vision becomes blurry, with a procedure called refractive lens exchange for those who do not yet have cataracts, but want to be glasses free.

“Most people who want the ReSTOR lens are candidates for it,” says St. John’s ophthalmologist James Gessler, M.D., who performed Kolling’s procedure. “But it’s important to really assess patients’ vision needs and lifestyles to determine which procedure is right for them. The ReStor lens may not be a good option for someone who drives at night often or for a living, for example, because they can have halos with their night vision. We also don’t use it in people who have had a history of eye disease.”

In clinical trials for the ReSTOR lens, its maker, Alcon, reported that 80 percent of patients reported "never" wearing reading glasses or bifocals following bilateral cataract surgery. Clinical results showed 84 percent of patients receiving the ReSTOR lens in both eyes achieved distance visual acuity of 20/25 or better, and near visual acuity of 20/32 or better without glasses. That compared with only 23 percent of the control group.

Before the surgery, Kolling’s vision was 20/1,600 in both eyes. Now, her vision is 20/20 in her left eye and nearly 20/20 in her right eye.

"There are so many advantages to life without glasses or contacts,” Kolling says.

For more information, please call St. John's Clinic - Eye Specialists at 417-820-9393.