Standard Foldable (soft) lens Implants
These are the most recent types of intraocular lenses. The lens is made of a soft acrylic plastic. It is folded in half and inserted through a much smaller incision. The benefits of this are that the surgery is safer, the eye heals faster and usually no stitch is required to close the incision. Unfortunately, at the present time the hospital does not cover the cost of the lens. There are a few different types of foldable lenses with the latest lenses being designed to potentially provide improved contrast sensitivity most noticeable at night or dim lighting conditions. The cost of these lenses varies between $220 and $295 and your surgeon can recommend which is best for you.
- Both of the surgeons prefer the advantages of the soft lenses, but the older non-foldable lens is still a very good lens as it has been used for several years.
These lenses provide good, clear vision at a fixed distance. If there is no astigmatism a patient who has a monofocal lens implanted may not require glasses to see for distance but will still need glasses for reading or seeing close up. If you have significant astigmatism you may still need to wear glasses to achieve the clearest vision for distance as well as needing reading glasses if you have a standard foldable lens.
Non-foldable (hard) lens
This is an older style lens which is made of a hard plastic.
This requires a larger incision in the eye to be made to insert the lens and therefore requires a stitch to be placed to close the wound. The cost of this lens is covered by MSI.
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