Crystalens Accommodating IOL

Implanting the Crystalens is more challenging than implanting a conventional IOL. It will be important to seek the care of a doctor with a reasonable amount of practical knowledge of RLE or cataract surgery and the Crystalens accommodating IOL. You may find that a cataract doctor has more experience with IOL implantation than a Lasik doctor. We recommend you select a USAEyes Certified Lasik Doctor whenever possible, or use our 50 Tough Questions For Your Lasik Doctor to evaluate an uncertified, doctor.

Thanks to a change in Medicare policy, patients who need cataract surgery and are covered by Medicare may now elect to purchase the Crystalens at an additional cost over a conventional IOL. Before this policy change, Medicare's restrictions made it nearly impossible for a patient to acquire a Crystalens IOL. Now the patient may elect to pay the additional fees for the doctor, facility, and lens. See Crystalens Medicare Policy Details

Lastly, if you have the Crystalens, be patient. It takes time for your brain and eye muscles to become accustomed to the new possibilities afforded with the Crystalens. Although accommodation may be immediate, expect the changes to be slow with improvement in real function over the first year. For more information, visit the FDA or the Crystalens manufacture, Eyeonics. Crystalens is sometimes misspelled as CrystaLens, Crystal Lens, Crystal-Lens, or Crysta-Lens.

If you are ready to choose a doctor to be evaluated for conventional or custom wavefront Lasik, All-Laser Lasik, PRK, LASEK, Epi-Lasik, NearVision CK, RLE, or any refractive surgery procedure, we highly recommend you consider a doctor who has been evaluated and certified by the USAEyes nonprofit organization. Locate a USAEyes Evaluated & Certified Lasik Laser Eye Surgery Doctor.

If this article did not fully answer your questions, use our free Ask Lasik Expert patient forum.

---

Current Crystalens Medical Journal News...

Positional accommodative intraocular lens power error induced by the estimation of the corneal power and the effective lens position.

Positional accommodative intraocular lens power error induced by the estimation of the corneal power and the effective lens position.

Indian J Ophthalmol. 2015 May;63(5):438-44

Authors: Piñero DP, Camps VJ, Ramón ML, Mateo V, P Rez-CambrodI RJ

Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the predictability of the refractive correction achieved with a positional accommodating intraocular lenses (IOL) and to develop a potential optimization of it by minimizing the error associated with the keratometric estimation of the corneal power and by developing a predictive formula for the effective lens position (ELP).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical data from 25 eyes of 14 patients (age range, 52-77 years) and undergoing cataract surgery with implantation of the accommodating IOL Crystalens HD (Bausch and Lomb) were retrospectively reviewed. In all cases, the calculation of an adjusted IOL power (P IOLadj ) based on Gaussian optics considering the residual refractive error was done using a variable keratometric index value (n kadj ) for corneal power estimation with and without using an estimation algorithm for ELP obtained by multiple regression analysis (ELP adj ). P IOLadj was compared to the real IOL power implanted (P IOLReal , calculated with the SRK-T formula) and also to the values estimated by the Haigis, HofferQ, and Holladay I formulas.
RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found between P IOLReal and P IOLadj when ELP adj was used (P = 0.10), with a range of agreement between calculations of 1.23 D. In contrast, P IOLReal was significantly higher when compared to P IOLadj without using ELP adj and also compared to the values estimated by the other formulas.
CONCLUSIONS: Predictable refractive outcomes can be obtained with the accommodating IOL Crystalens HD using a variable keratometric index for corneal power estimation and by estimating ELP with an algorithm dependent on anatomical factors and age.

PMID: 26139807 [PubMed - in process]