ReZoom

Somewhere around when you turn 40, the printed page begins to blur. It's because your arms are too short to hold the book far enough away ... right? Not likely. You're probably experiencing a normal part of aging called presbyopia, which means that the eye's crystalline lens, located behind the iris, is losing elasticity. When we're in our 30s, this lens acts like an auto-focus camera, self-adjusting between distant, intermediate and nea- vision points.

With time, the ability to adjust diminishes. LASIK surgery, which everyone thinks of first when considering permanent vision correction, cannot repair presbyopia, as it reshapes the cornea and presbyopia involves the lens. Until recently, bifocals or readers perched on your nose were the sole solution.

Today, there's a new option to permanently correct presbyopia. It begins with refractive lens exchange (RLE), essentially cataract surgery that involves an outpatient procedure in which a synthetic intraocular lens (IOL) replaces the crystalline lens. What's new is the multifocal IOL. Once it's implanted, focus greatly improves, allowing for significantly better distance vision when driving during the day, golfing and walking; intermediate vision when using the computer and cooking; or near vision, when reading and sewing. Glasses generally are only necessary for extended close work or night driving.

Two popular names among multifocal IOLs are ReStor and ReZoom (no connection to this Web site's name), registered trademarks with Alcon Surgical and Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. respectively. Your ophthalmologist can explain the subtle differences, although both require similar surgical procedures. First, a tiny incision is made in the cornea's outside edge, through which the crystalline lens is removed and the multifocal IOL is implanted. Patients are awake with only a local or topical anesthesia necessary and sometimes a mild sedative for relaxation. The procedure takes around 15 minutes per eye and in the United States, doctors usually implant the lenses at separate times within a two-week period.

Dr. David R. Hardten, an ophthalmologist and founding partner of Minnesota Eye Consultants, frequently performs multifocal IOL surgery using the ReZoom lens, and while his applications usually involve cataract patients, he reports that in some ophthalmology offices it's a 50-50 split between implants for cataract versus presbyopia patients.

As for results, Dr. Hardten says his patients are extremely pleased. "There's improved vision immediately, and during the next month, improvement increases. The gradual progress is due to neural adaptation, a fancy term for the brain learning how to use this new form of vision. The synthetic lens does things differently than a natural lens, with a slightly different optical system, so your brain makes adjustments."

The only drawback to these lenses is that those dust bunnies under your couch will be easier to spot, as well as a few fine lines around your eyes. For the latter, see our Looking Good story about the latest news in wrinkle-reversers. As for the dust bunnies, sorry — you're on your own!

And if surgery isn't your thing, be sure to check out our story on the latest, hip eye wear: For Your Reading Pleasure.

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