INTRAOCULAR LENS OPTIONS

During cataract surgery, the natural cloudy lens obscuring your vision will be removed and replaced with a clear artificial lens implant, or intraocular lens (IOL).  During conventional cataract surgery at St. Joseph’s Health Care Centre, the highest quality foldable acrylic IOL is offered as a standard surgical option. This lens is of exceptional quality and provides an excellent option for restoration of vision following the operation.  The lens filters 100% of ultraviolet light, thereby providing an added layer of protection to the inner delicate layers of the eye, and also filters a portion of the blue-light spectrum of sunlight that some studies show may cause or exacerbate a common eye disorder known as macular degeneration.  There is no cost for this lens, and its implantation is part of standard surgical procedure.  This IOL is known as the Alcon Acrysof IQ lens.

Some patients may benefit from other types of lenses available at the time of surgery.  Some of these lenses have enhanced features that you and Dr. Proulx may feel are appropriate for your particular surgery.  These IOLs are not deemed medically necessary, and therefore are not fully funded by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (i.e. OHIP).  The fees listed below for these optional lenses include a credit in the amount of the cost of the conventional OHIP-covered IOLs.  It is important to recognize that the conventional IOL used during cataract surgery is of very high quality and excellent surgical outcomes are achieved with these lenses.  The selection of an enhanced-feature lens is entirely optional and is not a requirement for surgery, nor will it affect your priority status in terms of wait time for your operation.  If you choose one of these lenses, you will be responsible for additional charges as noted below, and the fee will be billed to you by the St. Joseph’s Health Centre billing office shortly after your surgery.  It is also important to note that a decision not to implant the enhanced lens may be made at the time of surgery if there are surgical complications, which might make it unsafe to proceed.

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Astigmatism-correcting IQ Toric lens – cost $510 (per eye)

This is a soft acrylic lens that is very similar in design to the Acrysof IQ lens listed above and has all of the similar enhanced characteristics over the standard IOL.  In addition, this lens also has the ability to minimize astigmatism in some patients after surgery.  Astigmatism is one of the eye focusing abnormalities that are readily correctable by glasses (along with farsightedness & nearsightedness).  Not all patients require astigmatism correction, and therefore this type of lens is not a useful or necessary option for many people. 

For those patients with a significant amount of astigmatism, this lens can minimize the astigmatism and therefore reduce their dependence on glasses after surgery.  In some patients, glasses are no longer required for distance tasks.  Overall, approximately 85-90% of patients with pre-existing astigmatism are able to see very clearly at distance without glasses with this type of lens.  Some patients receiving this lens find their distance vision to be very good for most tasks, but still wear distance glasses periodically for tasks requiring optimal vision (i.e. driving).

It is important to note that virtually all patients require glasses for near tasks after cataract surgery (such as reading, computer work, etc.)  Even in patients with excellent distance vision without glasses after surgery, virtually all such patients still require spectacles for near vision tasks.   This is also true for patients choosing a lens option to correct astigmatism – the goal with this lens is to provide the best possible vision for distance and to minimize their dependence on glasses for such tasks, realizing that they will still require glasses for reading and other near tasks.

** Also, please be aware that patients choosing this astigmatism-correcting lens option MUST also choose to have their pre-operative biometry measurement done using the IOL Master, as the IOL Master provides the information necessary to determine the best type of astigmatism lens to implant.  In such patients, the total potential cost can add to $1155 (i.e. $510/eye for the astigmatism-correcting lens + $135 for the IOL Master testing)