HR advisor and corporate coach Jill Lang’s vision problems were so severe that she had relied on glasses, contact lenses and ultimately a combination of the two since early childhood. But as cataracts worsened her sight even further, Jill discovered a special kind of implant and eye surgery – designed by Queen’s Award for Industry award-winner, Rayner Intraocular Lenses - that would leave her glasses-free for the first time in 55 years.
The self-employed home-worker from Cirencester became one of a small number of patients to receive a made-to-order T-flex Toric intraocular lens (IOL) from the Sussex-based lens manufacturer this year. The operation has enabled her to see clearly without glasses for the first time since early childhood, restoring not only her sight but also her confidence: “I’ve gone from needing glasses to see things right in front of my eyes, to barely needing glasses at all.
“It is wonderful – being able to walk around the house and see everything clearly, and also being able to look out of the windows and see everything in the distance just with my eyes and no glasses or contact lenses. Losing your sight really ebbs away at your confidence – you start to question what may happen in the future. I’ve got rid of my cataracts and gained great vision at the same time.”
Jill, who has been extremely shortsighted her whole life struggled to see the blackboard when she was just four years old. After relying on glasses for day-to-day vision for over a decade, she received one of the first rigid multicurve contact lenses when she was 17 years old. The multicurve contact lens – a then revolutionary optical aid – had a special aspheric shape to minimise visual disturbances, while providing a convenient glasses-free method of seeing clearly. However after time, these hard lenses were damaging Jill’s eyes and she was moved onto soft gas permeable contact lenses, which worked for some time but 10-15 years later, they just weren’t strong enough.
At this point, Jill was prescribed a combination of contact lenses and glasses to correct her vision and enable her to go about her everyday life. “It was an expensive option, but it absolutely kept me going,” she explains. A couple of years ago, Jill developed cataracts, and was once again was plagued with severe vision problems.
This time, however, seeking treatment for her cataracts presented Jill with the unique opportunity of also correcting her lifelong shortsightedness and astigmatism with a tailor-made toric intraocular lens (IOL). The T-flex is an injectable lens developed specifically to correct astigmatism with high precision, at the same time as providing a clear replacement lens for individuals with cataracts.
Gloucestershire-based consultant eye surgeon Richard Caesar performed Jill’s operation. He said: “For most of our cataract patients we can use ready-made IOLs. Jill fell so far outside the standard IOL power range in both her degree of shortsightedness and astigmatism that she needed an incredibly special lens. She is one of the first patients in this county who has had a Toric IOL implanted for such extreme refractive error and we are delighted with her results.”
He added: “The Rayner IOL is incredibly well made and it is very stable. Once it’s in the eye it doesn’t rotate, which means that it gives you a very predictable result.”
Rayner Intraocular Lenses Chairman and Managing Director, Donald Munro said: “We pride ourselves in being able to design and provide premium-quality bespoke lenses for patients with intricate needs such as those experienced by Jill Lang. To be able to give clear sight and thereby change the life of individuals such as this through excellence in design and manufacture is a large part of what drives us.”
Indeed, Jill, who pre-operatively had very poor respective spherical and cylindrical refractions of -15.50 and -4.75 in her right eye, and -20.00 and -5.00 in her left eye, now has remarkably improved right eye spherical and cylindrical respective refractions of -1.75 and -1.00 in her right eye and -1.00 and -0.75 in her left eye.
Jill explains: "Not many people would underestimate the value of being able to see clearly. My cataracts are gone, and I no longer have to struggle with contact lenses and glasses - it really has been incredible. ”
For more information about Rayner lenses
(EDITOR: As a former cataract sufferer, I can agree that such implants make ALL the difference! And if you have a doctor who says you are too young to have the operation or that your cataract/s are not 'ripe' enough to be treated, then your doctor is 20/30 years behind the times and it might be worth considering changing your doctor.)
No comments:
Post a Comment