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OLD EYES NEW SOLUTIONS Revolutionary New VisionCorrection Procedure Now Available at Precision Eye Care
 | | Dr. Gordon Montgomery, at Ramona’s Precision Eye Care.
Photos by jim Evans |
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By Jim Evans
“Older” readers — over 52, to fit the medical prototype — who might struggle with reading vision or with both near and far vision, might have already discovered that the popularly advertised Lasik surgery probably is not an option anymore.
“After age 40, patients start to develop problems with near vision,” said Dr. Gordon Montgomery, of Ramona’s Precision Eye Care. “Things keep getting worse as we get older, as the lens inside the eye ages, and glasses for reading need to be made stronger and stronger.”
 | | Dr. Gordon Montgomery examines Administrative Manager Beth Bangs.
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Lasik surgery often can improve both near and far vision in younger patients but generally does not provide the same benefits as we get older.
Sometimes, monovision — in which one eye is corrected for near vision and the other eye is corrected for distance — is an option for patients in their 40s, but, again, age increasingly reduces the effectiveness of Lasik surgery.
There is another option, however.
“Refractive Lens Exchange is an alternative procedure,” Montgomery said. “For this age group of patients (over 52), it provides permanent, unmatched glasses-free binocular vision — vision for distance as well as for reading, because your aging lens and refractive error can be corrected in a single procedure.”
Montgomery said there have been attempts through the years to develop a lens that would allow patients to focus both near and far, but they were of limited value.
At the end of March of this year, however, the FDA approved two new lens implants that would try to solve the problem of correcting both near and far vision, he said.
“One of the lenses — the Acrysof Restor “intraocular lens” (IOL) — is vastly superior because, in FDA clinical trials, 93 percent of patients report never needing glasses for distance, and 81 percent of patients reported never needing glasses for near (reading). Ninety-five percent of patients leave home without glasses.”
For more information on the results, visit the FDA Website at www.fda.gov.
RLE is essentially cataract surgery before you have cataracts. In other words, the eye’s natural lens is removed and replaced by a manmade lens or implant — made of silicone or plastic (the Restor IOL) — but instead of calling it a cataract procedure, it is called RSI or sometimes referred to as a Clear Lens Exchange, according to the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance.
“This is permanent,” Montgomery said. “The replacement lens does not need to be periodically replaced.”
“This is a highly skilled procedure, unlike Lasik, where a computerized laser is performing the work. In addition to skill at the time of surgery, there has to be absolute accuracy in measuring the eye to determine what power of lens implant to use.
“The best equipment for this measurement should be done with what is called an IOL Master. If your opthalmologist does not have this type of instrument (which is more costly) that gives more accurate measurement...I would suggest seeking (medical) help elsewhere.”
How long does such a procedure typically take to perform?
“In my hands, it takes about 15 minutes,” said Montgomery, who has been in practice for more than 29 years and is Ramona’s only opthalmologist.
“The procedure is done in the hospital or an outpatient surgical facility and one would be in the facility for approximately three hours,” he said. “This is a very new procedure, but the patients we have performed it on so far have been extremely pleased.”
Montgomery has one of the highest success rates in the country in cataract surgery. In fact, he has been a presenter at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Society, and his techniques have been published in Ocular Surgery News.
For more information about this new procedure, call Montgomery at (760) 788-3622 or visit Precision Eye Care at 1662 Main St. in the Stater Brothers Center in Ramona for a free consultation. The eyes have it.
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