Lens Replacement Surgery or Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE)

Laser eye surgery can be considered at any age. For some patients over 55 however, laser surgery is not always the best option. Refractive Lens Exchange is a particularly good choice for patients over the age of 55 years. Often at this stage, the natural lens starts to lose its functionality and reading glasses are required as well as distance glasses.

What is Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE)?

RLE involves the replacement of the natural lens in the eye, with a new mono-focal, Toric or multi-focal intra-ocular lens implant (IOL). Accurate measurements of the eye taken prior to surgery allow for a bespoke, customised intra-ocular lens (IOL) to be implanted which can correct for any degree of long or short-sightedness and astigmatism so that clear distance vision without glasses is a reality. With the choice of premium lens implants, achieving excellent reading vision without glasses may be achieved allowing for true spectacle independence.

Benefits for you

The benefit of Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE) surgery is that it is either the only or the most appropriate procedure for treating certain eye conditions and vision problems. Specifically, it is the best way to fix presbyopia and extreme far sightedness, and in fact might also be the only way to get clearer vision without still relying on glasses post-surgery. It also has other benefits, such as:

• Treats or prevents cataracts, astigmatism, presbyopia, long-sightedness, short-sightedness, corneal problems and dry eyes
• Removes reliance on glasses and other corrective lenses and reduces the headaches and eye strain associated with their use
• Acts as an alternative for people who are not able to have other corrective eye surgeries like Laser for whatever reason. It also generally improves the eye health and reduces the likelihood that you’ll develop an eye infection in long-term contact wearers.

Am I suitable?

Lens replacement surgery could be just what you need if you have any of the following:

• Dependence on bifocal, varifocal or multifocal contact lenses or glasses
• Presbyopia
• Long-sightedness (hyperopia)
• Short-sightedness (myopia)
• Astigmatism
• Cataracts

Procedure

The lens exchange procedure takes between ten and fifteen minutes and is virtually painless. It is usually performed under local or topical anaesthetic. Patients return home the same day of their treatment and most see an immediate improvement in their vision.

Most of our pateints having Lens replacement have them done on the same day.

If you are interested in finding out more about replacement lens exchange and your suitability, please contact us and we will be happy to arrange a consultation.

Your Journey

RLE is exactly the same operation as cataract surgery but performed for the purpose of correcting your sight and eliminates the need for cataract surgery in the future.

Costs

There are several types of lens and these are namely; monofocal, multifocal (also called bifocal), EDoF (Extended Depth of Focus) and toric for the correction of astigmatism. Sometimes combining lenses is necessary and it may even be necessary to have lenses specially made. Accurate measurements and an in-depth consultation are needed prior to the procedure to ascertain which lenses or combination of lenses best suit you and your lifestyle. Cost of the surgery can vary on the type of Lens chosen for your eyes needs.