East Valley Ophthalmology proudly offers the Light Adjustable Lens (LAL) from RxSight™, the first intraocular lens (IOL) that allows precise adjustments to your prescription after cataract surgery. This groundbreaking technology enables our eye doctors to personalize your vision for superior clarity, tailoring it to your lifestyle and preferences.
Using a unique lens material designed by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, RxSight has developed the first intraocular lens (IOL) that allows you and your physician to optimize your vision following cataract surgery.
With the Light Adjustable Lens, your eye doctor can customize your vision after your cataract surgery. We can now adjust and preview your vision based on your desires and lifestyle requirements. Your eye doctor does this optimization after lens implantation through a series of office-based light treatment procedures that take only a few minutes each.
The Light Adjustable Lens delivers superior visual outcomes that non-adjustable IOLs cannot match. A study of 600 patients conducted by the FDA evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the Light Adjustable Lens. The study found that the LAL adjustments were twice as likely to achieve 20/20 distance vision at six months without glasses as those who received a standard monofocal intraocular lens.
The Light Adjustable Lens by RxSight is an exciting new intraocular lens technology that can be customized to a patient’s exact preferences after cataract surgery is completed. The LAL is implanted during conventional cataract surgery but can be adjusted through ultraviolet light treatments performed 2-3 weeks after surgery. The power of the lenses can be adjusted after the patient has recovered from surgery to achieve the highest level of prescription accuracy.
Light Adjustable Lenses are made of a unique photosensitive material that can be modified and reshaped by the targeted use of ultraviolet light from a Light Delivery Device. This reshaping can adjust the power of the lenses, allowing the eye surgeon to adapt and to preview a patient’s vision until it meets their desires and lifestyle requirements. LALs can also be used in the treatment of astigmatism.
The Light Adjustable Lens is made of a unique photosensitive material that changes the shape and power of your implanted lens in response to ultraviolet (UV) light. Light treatments are delivered in your doctor’s office with the Light Delivery Device (LDD).
After a healing period of 2-3 weeks, the patient will receive a visual acuity test to determine their best prescription. The LALs are then shaped to the exact prescription by a series of ultraviolet light treatments. Patients will be asked to look into the Light Delivery Device (LDD) for 60-90 seconds per session. Two to three sessions, three days apart, are generally required to achieve the desired shape for the exact prescription. Patients can experience and approve the result before the lens power is ‘locked in’ by a final light treatment that treats the entire optic. Patients will receive each lens individually in separate surgeries, as with traditional cataract surgery.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the Light Adjustable Lens and Light Delivery Device for patients with pre-existing astigmatism of 0.75 diopters or more who are undergoing cataract surgery. Other commercially available IOLs may be available for treating your cataracts, and your doctor will help you determine which lens is right for you.
Here are some reasons LALs may not be a good fit for someone considering cataract surgery:
Exposure to indoor and outdoor sources of UV light can cause uncontrolled changes to the Light Adjustable Lens until all light treatments are completed. To prevent this, patients must wear special UV protective glasses provided by RxSight during all waking hours (from the time of lens implantation until 24 hours after the final lock-in light treatment is completed).
The clear pair of protective glasses must be worn indoors, and the tinted pair must be worn in all bright sunlight conditions. The glasses may be removed when sleeping, and may be temporarily removed when showering, washing the face, or applying eye drops, as long as the patient is not exposed to direct sunlight.
Unprotected exposure to UV light during this period can result in unpredictable changes to the Light Adjustable Lens, which might necessitate removal of the lens.
The Light Adjustable Lens is the only adjustable intraocular lens (IOL) available that allows customization of your vision after lens implantation and healing. If you and your doctor select the Light Adjustable Lens, the first step is to have your cataract safely removed and the adjustable IOL implanted. The cataract removal and IOL implantation procedure is the same as if you selected a non-adjustable IOL.
What is unique about the Light Adjustable Lens is that once your eye has healed, you return to your eye doctor to test your vision. During this visit, you can preview and compare possible vision outcomes based on your unique preferences and lifestyle requirements before selecting a prescription for your adjustable lens. Your doctor will then apply a proprietary light treatment that precisely reshapes your implanted lens based on the visual correction needed to target your custom prescription. You may require 3 to 5 total light treatments to reach your vision goals.
Before cataract surgery, the eye doctor will estimate the prescription of your intraocular lens. This can often be challenging to do accurately because vision before cataract surgery is typically distorted, blurry, or cloudy. It is not uncommon for patients to still have some minor residual refractive error after cataract surgery, which may require the continued use of glasses or contact lenses.
During your cataract surgery, the eye surgeon will remove the clouded natural lens and implant the Light Adjustable Lens in the same way as a traditional IOL. Following surgery, you must wear protective glasses for 4 to 5 weeks during waking hours. The lenses are susceptible to direct sunlight, and the glasses will prevent the lenses from adjusting their shape prematurely.
Because Light Adjustable Lenses are adjusted after surgery when your vision is clear, your vision can be entirely customized after cataract surgery. Multiple adjustments can be made until the final power setting is established by you and ‘locked in”.
East Valley Ophthalmology is excited to bring the latest IOL technology to patients in Mesa, Arizona. All treatment begins with a consultation with an East Valley Ophthalmology cataract specialist or cataract surgeon in our Mesa office. During this consultation, your ophthalmologist will perform a complete eye exam with dilation and discuss lens implant options and whether Light Adjustable Lenses are an option for you.
For cataract treatment in Mesa or to learn more about Light Adjustable Lenses, schedule an appointment today. Online Consultation Request
