If you’ve always wanted crisp, sharp vision without needing your reading glasses, RLE (refractive lens exchange) can help you finally live glasses-free. After RLE, you’ll be able to read menus, drive, enjoy new hobbies, and live life on your terms without readers getting in the way.
Keep reading to learn more about how RLE can free you from reading glasses!
What is Presbyopia?
Presbyopia, or age-related farsightedness, is a common refractive error that typically develops after age 40. It occurs when your eye’s natural lens gradually loses the ability to see things up close.
Usually, your lens changes shape to focus light entering your eye on the retina, allowing you to see clearly. When you’re young, the lens is flexible and can easily change shape when you shift your focus from far away objects to something up close.
However, after age 40, your lens may start to lose flexibility and become more rigid. As your lens hardens, it can no longer change shape as easily to focus on nearby images, causing them to appear blurry.
Presbyopia can occur with other refractive errors such as nearsightedness, astigmatism, or farsightedness.
What are the Symptoms of Presbyopia?
Presbyopia typically develops gradually. After age 40, you may begin to notice signs and symptoms such as:
- Blurred close-up vision
- Holding reading materials farther away to make words and pictures clearer
- Need for brighter lighting for reading
- Headaches and eyestrain from doing up-close work
Presbyopia can be easily corrected with readers. However, if you desire more freedom from your reading glasses, you may want to consider RLE.
What is RLE?
RLE (refractive lens exchange, also called clear lens exchange (CLE), is a procedure that corrects presbyopia and refractive errors like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, significantly minimizing or even eliminating your reliance on reading glasses. The procedure involves removing the natural lens of your eye and replacing it with an intraocular lens (IOL).
Much like prescription glasses, an IOL has a prescription tailored to your eyes, enabling you to see clearly. A unique benefit of RLE is that the procedure is nearly identical to cataract surgery.
Cataract surgery entails removing the natural lens that has become clouded by cataracts, an incredibly common eye condition that causes progressive vision loss, and replacing it with an IOL. The only difference is that in RLE, the lens being replaced is clear, and the procedure is done to decrease dependence on visual aids.
Since the natural lens is replaced with an IOL in RLE, you’ll never need cataract surgery in the future because a cataract cannot form on the artificial IOL.
How Can RLE Improve Presbyopia?
RLE offers many benefits to patients with presbyopia, including:
Correcting a Range of Refractive Errors
RLE can allow you to see clearly without glasses at multiple distances, including near, far, and everything in between. Whether you have farsightedness, nearsightedness, or astigmatism alongside presbyopia, RLE can correct all your refractive errors.
Enjoying More Independence from Glasses
RLE offers a comprehensive solution to presbyopia and common refractive errors, often considerably reducing or eliminating the need for glasses. With certain IOL choices, you may find that you no longer need to rely on your readers for any activities.
Attaining Long-Term Results
RLE provides greater and long-term freedom from reading glasses. The IOL implanted in your eye can last a lifetime. It’s designed to remain in your eyes permanently, offering long-lasting vision correction.
How Does RLE Work?
Prior to your RLE procedure, you’ll need to pick an IOL. Your ophthalmologist can help you select the best IOL based on your visual needs, goals, and lifestyle needs.
To perform RLE, your eye surgeon will start by applying numbing eye drops to prevent pain. They may also give you a mild sedative to help you feel at ease.
Next, they’ll create a tiny incision in your eye so they can reach your natural lens. They’ll then use ultrasound waves to break your lens into tiny fragments and suction out all those pieces.
After that, your RLE surgeon will implant the IOL. The new IOL functions just like the natural lens of your eye.
It bends or refracts light entering your eye, helping it land precisely on the retina so you can see clearly. Depending on the IOL you chose, the new intraocular lens can correct presbyopia and any other refractive error you may have.
Finally, the surgeon will tape a protective shield over your eye. RLE is an outpatient procedure that only takes about 15 to 30 minutes and doesn’t require any stitches or sutures.
What Will My Vision Be Like After RLE?
IOL selection is a crucial factor that determines what your vision will look like after RLE. Herschel LASIK and Cataract Institute offers various premium IOL options that can meet your needs and personal preferences, including:
Multifocal IOLs
Multifocal IOLs are presbyopia-correcting lens implants. They have concentric rings built within the lens and set at different powers.
This allows for multiple focus points at near, intermediate, and far distances. After RLE with a multifocal IOL, you can read, watch TV, work on your computer, drive, and perform other activities with little to no need for reading glasses.
Apthera IOL
The Apthera IOL is an FDA-approved IOL with a built-in FilterRing™ component that creates a small aperture. The small aperture filters out distorted light that can lead to blurry vision and delivers focused, high-quality light to the retina.
This allows the IOL to provide a continuous range of vision at near, far, and intermediate distances, dramatically decreasing or eliminating your dependence on readers and other visual aids. With the Apthera IOL, you can enjoy life’s big and small moments without reading glasses getting in the way.
The Light Adjustable Lens
The Light Adjustable Lens is the only IOL that allows your ophthalmologist to fine-tune your vision after RLE. With this IOL, you can preview and test drive possible visual outcomes before deciding your final choice.
The Light Adjustable Lens is made with a photosensitive material that modifies the power of the implanted IOL in response to ultraviolet or UV light, providing truly custom vision. Once your eye fully heals after RLE, you’ll return to your ophthalmologist’s office to begin quick, painless UV light treatments.
During these sessions, your ophthalmologist will use a Light Delivery Device to shine UV light on your Light Adjustable Lens, slightly changing its shape and power. When you achieve your desired visual outcome, your ophthalmologist will permanently lock in the IOL with a final light treatment to avoid any further changes.
Achieve Lasting Visual Freedom from Reading Glasses
RLE at Herschel LASIK and Cataract Institute could be your ticket to lasting visual freedom. The procedure can be tailored to your specific visual needs and lifestyle, allowing you to see the world through your own eyes, not through readers.
Are you interested in RLE? Schedule your appointment at Herschel LASIK and Cataract Institute in Orlando, FL, today to find out if RLE is right for you.
