As Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center surgeons and surgeons across the country continue to evaluate how the LenSx femtosecond laser and intraoperative wavefront aberrometry with the ORA device are impacting the refractive outcomes of cataract procedures, it is becoming clear that these technologies can indeed help us to maximize the benefits of specialty IOLs. Refractive outcomes are improving, which makes this a very good time to increase patient awareness of their IOL options.

In Arizona in particular, where we love our active, outdoor lifestyle and cataracts tend to develop relatively early, choosing a Crystalens, ReSTOR or toric IOL can be one of the best decisions a patient ever makes. Freedom from or less dependence on glasses and contact lenses is something we have found to be of great value to many of our patients.

As primary eyecare providers who have built long-term relationships with patients, optometrists are in a unique position to inform patients of the potentially life-changing benefits of today’s advanced IOLs. Receiving the information from you allows patients to hear about their options in a comfortable, familiar setting and gives them time to digest the concepts prior to their surgical consultation. It also reassures them that you are up-to-date on all aspects of the eye care and that you are invested in their well-being before and after surgery. Learning about IOL options from you, someone they have trusted for years, also corrects any misinformation they may have received from friends or family memmbers. Finally, it helps to prevent a situation in which a patient does not hear about the potential benefits of a toric or presbyopia-correcting IOL from you, but is introduced to them after the fact by a friend or family member who was highly satisfied with his or her own specialyt IOL experience.