Can We Remove Toric Intraocular Lens And Replace Them With Single Distance Lens?

Posted on Mon, 26 May 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 26 May 2014 Answered on

Mon, 23 Jun 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : My cataract corrective surgery with insertion of a Toric lens did not achieve satisfactory results. I have struggled with it for 18 months, including ablation of secondary cataracts and LASEK surgery, with no improvement. Is it practical to remove and rplact the Toric lens with a single distance lens and deal with or accept the astigmatism after that?

Answered by Dr. Dadapeer K (30 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
It is not practical to remove the intraocular lens

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to Health care Magic
I am Dr. Dadapeer K, an Ophthalmologist and I answer health problems related to eye.

It seems from the history that you have undergone cataract surgery with implantation of toric intraocular lens and you have undergone LASEK surgery to correct refractive error.
It is not practical to remove the toric intraocular lens as it is almost 1 1/2 year following cataract surgery and there will be formation of adhesions and attempting to remove the intraocular lens may cause damage to the intraocular structures.
Hence I advice you to get re-examination done to find out the cause for your non satisfactory result.
The causes can lie in the cornea, lens, retina and in refraction.
If the problem is because of tilting of the lens or subluxation or displacement of the lens then it is worth to take risk and go ahead with the surgery to replace the intraocular lens.

Hope I have answered your question and the information is helpful to you.

Thank you

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar