A New Focus on Cataracts

Almost everyone experiences vision problems as they get older. Two of the most common problems of aging are developing presbyopia and cataracts.
Presbyopia is caused in part by a gradual hardening of the natural lens of the eye, affecting nearly every adult over the age of 50. As the lens gets harder and less flexible, the eye's ability to switch from seeing objects at a distance to seeing objects that are near is compromised.

Cataracts cloud the natural lens of the eye causing hazy or blurred vision and can lead to blindness if left untreated. The only treatment for cataracts is to remove the clouded natural lens and replace it with an artificial lens called an intraocular lens (IOL). About 60 percent of those older than 60 years and 70 percent older than 75 years have cataracts, according to the Eye Surgery Education Council.

Fortunately, new technologies are now being utilized to address these conditions. Local specialists such as Dr. Ron Reed and Dr. Alan Bloom of Reed Eye Associates are particularly keen on making sure they are on top of the latest advances so the offer their patients the very latest products and techniques to provide better vision as they age.
One of their patients, Fairport resident and teacher Marcia Soja, took advantage of a recent advance and could not believe her eyes while she watched a basketball game from a top row seat at the Blue Cross Arena this winter. "It was like seeing the best high definition television -- the color and the depth perception was intense," said Soja. "It's changed my life."

Soja's new vision was a result of innovative IOL, trade-named ReZoom, she had implanted at Reed Eye Associates to replace the cataracts that formed in the natural crystalline lens of her eyes.

ReZoom is an FDA approved multifocal IOL designed to provide sharp distance vision for activities like driving, walking, and golfing. It also provides critical intermediate vision and crisp near vision for reading. Most people (92 percent) who get lenses of this type greatly reduce their dependency on reading glasses or never need them, according to recent studies. Dr. Bloom says, "Of the implants done at Reed Eye Associates, 91 percent had corrected vision of 20/25 or better."

Soja's not the only patient who has found the experience life changing. In April 2006, international golf pro Gary Player had the same procedure, just one week before The Masters tournament, where he competed and birdied his first hole.
Several years before having the surgery, Player said, "I never saw the ball land on the fairway; I never saw the ball land on the green." Now he notices a massive difference. "I can read the line of the putt so clearly - I am much more decisive in club selection. I even can read the scorecard,"

Today, both Marcia Soja and Gary Player are enjoying great vision thanks to technological advances such as these. "As you get older you begin to think, 'Well, my sight is gone or going,'" said Player. "To be able to get this miracle where you can again see like you're 25 years of age, you cannot comprehend it."

ROCHESTER RESOURCE
Reed Eye Associates,
500 Kreag Road, Pittsford, NY
14534
585/249-8300
www.Reedeye.com.