Lens Power Calculations
One of the beneficial aspects of cataract surgery is the ability to improve your vision without glasses after the procedure. After your cloudy lens is removed, a new lens is put inside of the eye. This new lens can be selected in any power to give you excellent distance vision, intermediate vision, and up close vision depending on your visual needs. Sophisticated computer programs are used to calculate the correct lens power for your eye. At your pre-operative visit a technician will make measurements on your eye that go into a computer program that determines the best lens power. Because there is biological variability that is difficult to account for, and imperfections exist in measuring equipment, there may be rare occurrences when the lens power calculations are incorrect. Greater than 95% of the time the calculations should be accurate and the lens selected should be the correct one for you. In rare cases, especially patients who have had past LASIK, PRK, or RK, the lens chosen will be too strong or too weak and glasses may be required to achieve the sharpest vision. If a lens is implanted that is significantly different than the correct lens power, there are options for exchanging the lens, adding a second smaller lens, or having a refractive surgery to improve the vision. These would be discussed with you by your surgeon.
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