Phakic IOLs
Serving Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Olympia, and Tacoma, WA
Phakic IOLs are implantable contact lenses. IOL stands for Intraocular lens. They are called Phakic from the Greek word phakos meaning lens. A Phakic eye is one which has its natural lens.
Implantable lenses have been used for years to treat cataracts. But in a cataract treatment, the natural lens is completely removed and the implantable lens replaces it. That is because there is no way to remove cataracts from the lens. The entire lens must be removed. This has become a treatment for presbyopia too, “middle aged” vision that requires reading glasses.
A phakic IOL is implanted to correct the natural lens. It’s an alternative to LASIK for treating nearsightedness (myopia), and if you have severe myopia, they might be a better alternative. In Europe there are phakic IOLs to treat farsightedness and astigmatism also but these are not yet approved by the FDA.
Two are approved for use in the U.S.:
The Verisyse Phakic IOL made by AMO (Advanced Medical Optics)
The Visian ICL (implantable contact lens) made by Staar Surgical.
How phakic IOLs work
They are placed in front of the eye’s natural lens and change the way light is bent as it enters the eye. All curved, translucent objects bend light as it passes through them. If they are very curved, they bend light at a sharper angle; if they are flatter, they bend it at a more shallow angle.
If you have myopic eyes, the lens curvature is steep; it’s very curved. It bends light too much so that it focuses in front of the retina instead of right on it, and you have a blurry image. Your phakic IOL would be made such that it would correct for this. It would diverge the light rays before they reached the lens. The lens would still bend it too much, but now that won’t matter and the light will focus clearly on the retina.
Meant to be permanent
They can be removed but your eyes might not resume their previous condition. As we age our eyes change, and when you developed presbyopia after the age of 40 or 45, you would need to wear reading glasses just as anyone with 20/20 eyes does. Presbyopia is not related to the curvature of the lens or cornea. Its cause is a stiffening of the lens with age, so that it loses its ability to change shape.
Please email our cataract eye surgeon or call to schedule your initial cataract consultation. We will be happy to answer all your laser vision correction questions and give you a tour of our comfortable offices. We serve the entire Seattle, WA. area and we hope to meet with you soon.