Deluxe Cataract Surgery

Carmel, Fishers and Indianapolis Locations

Cataract surgery is often recommended when the lens of your eye has lost its transparency and your vision has become cloudy.

This is not an unusual condition and the odds of developing cataracts increases with age. Dr. Barrett can perform cataract surgery on an outpatient basis with minimal discomfort. Dr. Barrett is able to solve your problem by removing your damaged lens and permanently implanting a new plastic lens.

During the surgery, Dr. Barrett will:

Put you under local anesthesia. This will help relax you and you may even drift off to sleep during the surgery.
Dilate your pupils
Remove the clouded lens
Implant a new, clear artificial lens

You will be asked to wear an eye patch for several hours after your surgery is completed to help protect your new lens. Once you have removed the eye patch your vision should improve and your eye should heal within several days. You are advised to avoid any heavy lifting, bending or straining for one week following surgery. It is also important that you avoid rubbing your eyes for one week following surgery.

This is an exciting time in many areas ophthalmology and cataract surgery is no exception. Today's cataract surgeries are performed with small incisions that do not even require stitches. High speed ultrasound is used to remove the cataracts and the procedure typically only takes 15-20 minutes. At Barrett Eye Care we use all of the latest and most innovative technology to help ensure that your surgery is a successful one. Recently several new, deluxe lenses were approved by the FDA which gives our patients a choice of the type of vision they would like to have following cataract surgery.

When Dr. Barrett performs the procedure and implants a new lens in your eye, you will have a choice as to the type of lens that you would like to have implanted. The choice of lens will determine your level of spectacle independence following cataract surgery. A very high percentage of our patients (over 98%) will see better following cataract surgery with glasses. The choice of lens only affects the need for glasses after surgery. Below we will describe the options that our cataract patients have.

Option 1: Standard Intraocular Lens
This is the standard lens that we place in an overwhelming majority of our patients. It is a monofocal lens which means that it allows for excellent vision at one point in the distance without glasses. A large majority of our patients will see well in the distance without glasses but almost all patients will need glasses to read. Some patients with astigmatism or residual refractive error will still need to wear bi-focals to maximize their distance and near vision. If you are not bothered by wearing glasses or if spectacle independence is not important to you then this is the lens for you. This lens is covered by Medicare and all insurance companies and thus there is no extra out-of-pocket charge to you.

Option 2: Deluxe Intraocular Lens (RESTOR Intraocular Lens)
This is a deluxe lens which was approved by the FDA several years ago. This lens uses diffraction optics to help maximize both distance and near vision without glasses. Intermediate vision may still be a little blurry with this lens. Approximately 80% of our patients who receive this lens do not use glasses at all. The other 20% generally require occasional reading glasses or computer glasses to help sharpen their vision. Given the design of the lens, some patients experience some glare and haloes, especially when driving at night, but these symptoms generally improve with time. If you do not like to wear glasses and are interested in trying to achieve spectacle independence following your cataract surgery, then this is a lens to consider. Unfortunately, this lens is considered a "deluxe" lens and thus is not covered by Medicare or other insurance companies. Your out-of-pocket cost for this lens is $1,900.00 per eye. If you are interested in this lens, we can also work out a payment plan to spread out the payments over time. We are now offering 24 month, interest-free payment plans.

Option 3: Deluxe Intraocular Lens (CRYSTALENS Intraocular Lens)
This is a deluxe lens which was approved by the FDA several years ago as well. This lens is an accommodative intraocular lens which was designed to maximize distance, intermediate and near vision without glasses. Approximately 80% of our patients who receive this lens do not use glasses at all. The other 20% generally require occasional reading glasses or computer glasses to help sharpen their near vision. Given the design of the lens, some patients experience some glare and haloes, especially when driving at night, but these symptoms generally improve with time. If you do not like to wear glasses and are interested in trying to achieve spectacle independence following your cataract surgery, then this is a lens to consider. Unfortunately, this lens is considered a "deluxe" lens and thus is not covered by Medicare or other insurance companies. Your out-of-pocket cost for this lens is $1,900.00 per eye. If you are interested in this lens, we can also work out a payment plan to spread out the payments over time. We are now offering 24 month, interest-free payment plans.

Option 4: Deluxe Intraocular Lens (TORIC Intraocular Lens)
This is a deluxe lens which was approved by the FDA to correct our patients with astigmatism. This lens uses astigmatism correction to help maximize distance vision without glasses. Approximately 80% of our patients who receive this lens do not use glasses for distance at all. The other 20% may require glasses in some settings to help sharpen their distance vision. This lens does not effect intermediate or near vision and thus glasses would be required for reading and computer work. The design of this lens is to provide most patients with spectacle independence for distance vision only. If you have astigmatism and do not like to wear glasses for distance vision and are interested in trying to achieve spectacle independence for distance vision following your cataract surgery, then this is a lens for you to consider.Unfortunately, this lens is considered a "deluxe" lens and thus is not covered by Medicare or other insurance companies. Your out-of-pocket cost for this lens is $900.00 per eye. If you are interested in this lens, we can also work out a payment plan to spread out the payments over time. We are now offering 24 month, interest-free payment plans.

Recently, two new intraocular lenses were approved which allow our cataract patients to become "glasses-free" after cataract surgery. Dr. Barrett implants the Acrysoft Toric and Acrysoft Restor lenses in his cataract patients. The Acrysoft Toric Intraocular Lens is a specialty lens which is used to correct for a patient’s natural astigmatism. Following implantation of this lens, most of our patients are able to see well in the distance without spectacles. The Acrysoft Restor lens is a bi-focal lens which can be implanted in patients who do not have a significant amount of astigmatism. Following implantation of this lens, most of our cataract patients are able to see well in the distance and up close, without glasses. Both of these lenses are revolutionary new designs which will continue to transform our results following cataract surgery. If you or someone you know has cataracts, please contact us to see if one of these new, deluxe lenses is right for you.