Refractive Lens Exchange

Refractive Lens Exchange is an increasingly common practice to help people achieve spectacle independence.

In essence, Refractive Lens Exchange is performing a cataract operation and combining this with appropriate artificial lenses to achieve spectacle independence.  Cataract surgery is removal of the lens of one's eye as it is clouded, in Refractive Lens Exchange the lens is yet to become significantly clouded.

The primary reason for using this is to correct significant focus errors, particularly in those people who have undergone presbyopia, that is loss of reading vision, who desire to be less dependant on glasses for all levels including distance, intermediate and near.  This is particularly useful for those people who are not suitable for laser vision correction.

Although laser vision correction can correct vision quite well, this can only be achieved for one distance.  The major advantage of Refractive Lens Exchange is that all distances can be catered for, provided one's eye is healthy and is suitable for multifocal lenses.  This technique has been employed for over 10 years now with great success, with the vast majority of patients achieving excellent distance, intermediate and near vision, and around 95% achieving complete spectacle independence.

5-10% of the time however, there is a chance of still requiring spectacles for reading small print in low light conditions and very occasionally for computer use.

If you require further information feel free to chat with our knowledgable staff and we can make you an appointment to assess your suitability for this technique.