Light Adjustable Lenses
Personalised vision, fine-tuned after surgery
If you are finding your reading vision harder to manage, switching glasses throughout the day, or feeling limited by presbyopia or an ageing prescription, you may be exploring long-term solutions beyond glasses or contact lenses. This is often the stage of life where people start to look for options that offer more independence and more predictable results.
Light Adjustable Lenses are also particularly useful for people with complex cataracts or previous corneal surgery, where achieving an accurate visual outcome can be more challenging.
Light Adjustable Lens treatment provides a new level of personalisation in vision correction, especially for individuals who want the most precise result possible or who have eyes that are more difficult to measure.
What are Light Adjustable Lenses (LAL)?
Light Adjustable Lenses (LALs) are a premium intraocular lens option that enable fine-tuning of your vision after surgery. Unlike standard intraocular lenses, which have a fixed prescription once implanted, LALs are made from a photosensitive material. After the lens is implanted, its power can be adjusted using controlled ultraviolet (UV) light, giving you and your surgeon the flexibility to optimise your vision more precisely.
This is especially useful in cases where predicting the exact prescription before surgery is more challenging, for example, if you’ve previously had corneal laser surgery, or your refractive error is more complex.
The Procedure
Light adjustable lens (LAL) surgery is a straightforward surgery performed under local anaesthesia. The procedure involves the following steps:
- Preoperative Assessment: Our surgical team conducts a very thorough evaluation of the patient’s eyes, including measurements of the cornea, pupil size, and the length of the eye. This ensures the selection of the most suitable lens.
- Lens Removal: A small incision is made in the cornea, and the natural lens is gently broken up using ultrasound technology (called phacoemulsification) and removed.
- Lens Implantation: The light adjustable lens is folded and inserted into the eye through the same incision. Once inside, the lens unfolds and is positioned securely. The procedure typically takes 15 to 30 minutes per eye. Most patients have both eyes treated at the same time. UV glasses will be provided following surgery for you to wear outdoors.
- Light Adjustment: Using a Light Delivery Device (LDD), your surgeon applies precisely controlled UV light to optimise the lens power in the clinic. Up to three adjustment sessions can be performed with each session lasting a few minutes.
- Lock-In Treatment: Once the vision has been finalised, two lock-in treatments are performed to stabilise the lens. After the final lock-in, the UV glasses are typically worn for 24 hours, after which they can be discontinued.
Benefits
- Highly Customisable Vision: You can “test-drive” and refine your vision after surgery, making adjustments based on how you really see in day-to-day life.
- Greater Predictability: Because the lens is adjusted after healing, there’s less reliance on pre-surgery calculations.
- Improved Visual Outcomes: Clinical results suggest a higher likelihood of excellent uncorrected vision.
Challenges and potential risks
All surgery is not without some risks and possible issues. The commonest are a) Adjustment Period: it is critical that the supplied UV-blocking eyewear is worn throughout the healing and adjustment phases. Without it, uncontrolled changes in the lens may occur. b) Surgical Risks: As with any surgery, there is a small risk of infection, inflammation, or complications affecting vision.
What’s the next step?
Come and visit us, book now using the form below to attend your no-obligation consultation, or call our friendly team on 020 7224 1005
