HealthFirst-Crystalens eye surgery

FLINT -- (04/09/08)-- One hundred people are seeing the world much more clearly thanks to free cataract lens implants.

HealthFirst reporter Leslie Toldo talked to a Lapeer woman who got the free lenses today-

The major perk to the Crystalens is that patients usually don't need glasses after they get the implants.

Like any newer technology, the lenses, which are FDA approved, are not covered by insurance and they cost $2,000. So, the 100 people who got free lenses today are feeling lucky.

"It's like you put eye drops into your eyes, like a little scratch.  Like you get something in your eye and you feel a little scratch.  That's all you feel like," said lens recipient Lena Roeher.

That temporary, post-surgery irritation is a small price to pay for her. After a lifetime of wearing glasses, Roeher believes she will never need them again.  "My glasses was more of a part of me, instead of them just being my glasses."

Ophthalmologist Gary Keoleian of the Michigan Eye Institute in Flint says the lenses are a logical next frontier, especially after the Lasik revolution.  "Lasik was a great thing, because it offered distance correction. Now this is the next step because this is distance correction and near correction so glasses aren't necessary for most of the things people do."

The Crystalens is much like a contact lens, but it is a little smaller, and it is implanted. Hinges on the sides of the lens allow it to work with the muscles in the eyes that help them focus.

"It has some flexation. It uses the muscles we use in our 20s and younger to actually help focus. And over time, changes in the eye don't allow that, which is why people in their 40s and 50s need reading glasses. This helps return the eye to a more youthful state in that it can help focus by flexing," Keoleian explained.

Today's big lens giveaway called "Change 100 lives in 100 minutes" is maker Bausch and Lomb's way of celebrating the 100,000th Crystalens implantation.

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healthfirst, leslie toldo

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