Now there’s good news for you! Thanks to a procedure called Clear Lens Replacement, you have another option. Clear Lens Replacement, or CLR, is a surgical procedure designed to reduce or eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses for people with farsightedness or nearsightedness, and even those with astigmatism. Unlike other refractive procedures like LASIK that changes the shape of the cornea, CLR corrects your vision by removing the natural crystalline lens in the eye and replacing it with a new artificial lens, called an Intraocular Implant or IOL. The CLR procedure is similar to cataract surgery; however, the removed lens is clear instead of cloudy as in cataract surgery. Another great benefit is that once you have CLR, you will never get cataracts nor ever require cataract surgery.

State-of-the-art ultrasound instruments are used to measure your eye for the correct lens power, taking your lifestyle and desired activities into consideration. These custom measurements are entered into sophisticated formulas to calculate your personalized treatment plan and IOL power. If you wear reading glasses, you even have the choice of a high tech multifocal IOL, designed to allow patients to see distance AND near.For people over 40 who have begun to lose “accommodation” and now need reading glasses, bifocals, or progressive lenses, CLR is a much better choice than LASIK. In the past, CLR patients would automatically receive a single focus IOL. These single focus IOLs provided patients with good functional distance vision, but offered little benefit for a full range of distance, intermediate and near vision. Typically, reading glasses or bifocals were used for near vision, making most patients dependent on glasses even after the surgery. But now with the FDA approved high tech lens implants, we are able to offer patients the possibility of not needing glasses to see distance or up close. People often remark that their vision is better than it ever was before, since we are able completely customize their treatment.

Clear Lens Replacement has been performed extensively in Europe for years with excellent results. The number of CLR procedures performed in the United States has dramatically increased in the last few years due to the elevated interest in vision correction procedures.

Clear Lens Replacement is also sometimes call RLR (Refractive Lens Replacement) and RLE (Refractive Lens Exchange) and is an alternative you may not have considered previously. While not everyone is a candidate for this procedure, Dr. Cathleen McCabe or Dr. Brian Foster can help you determine the best choice for you and your eyes. If you would like to be evaluated for Clear Lens Replacement, please call The Eye Associates at 1-866-865-2020. We even offer FREE CLR screenings!

Hear how CLR changed this young man’s life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9jJmQ_0qhA