New technologies bring efficacy and safety, one of the basic objectives of medicine and ophthalmology. Cataract and presbyopia (eyestrain) surgery is a clear example. It is true that in recent years there has been a spectacular advance and we all know of some cases that have undergone surgery and in a short time have recovered their vision and have been able to eliminate the need to wear glasses.
We talk about cataracts and presbyopia because, although they are different disorders, the treatment is very similar. Cataract is the opacification of the crystalline lens, generally due to age and treatment. Its surgery consists of removing the crystalline lens and replacing it with an intraocular lens (IOL), which may be monofocal (we will need glasses after surgery) or multifocal (to eliminate the need for glasses).
In presbyopia, the crystalline lens stops focusing on near objects and it is necessary to wear glasses to see them well. Although there are alternatives for its treatment, the only definitive one consists of removing the crystalline lens and implanting an intraocular lens, always of the multifocal type, since the objective is to eliminate glasses.
This surgery was already being performed with good results, but it has taken a qualitative leap forward with the appearance of the new femtosecond lasers. We have been using the laser since the early 2000s, but it is now with the femtosecond laser that it has become much more precise and offers greater safety to our patients.
Specialists believe that with the femtosecond laser, together with the new trifocal intraocular lenses and drugs that make it possible to adjust the size of the pupil to regulate the amount of light reaching the retina, the “puzzle” that allows us to offer maximum efficacy and safety to eliminate glasses in patients suffering from cataracts or presbyopia is complete.