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P. Kumar Rao, MD

Ophthalmologist Kumar Rao, MD, was drawn to his specialty because of the patients he saw when he was in medical school. They were so grateful for the restoration of their vision and independence.

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Identifying Cancerous Moles

My sister was recently diagnosed with skin cancer. For years she thought the spot was just a plain mole. How can you tell the difference?

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Switching Lanes

If you are concerned about your ability to drive or your older parent driving ability, consider a third-party driving assessment by Washington University Driving Connections.

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Intraocular Lenses

Lens implants are generally done to replace cataracts, formed when the natural lenses become cloudy. When replaced for cataracts and with a single-vision lens, the surgery is usually covered by insurance. For younger patients, or those without cataracts, clear lens extraction is the same procedure done when the natural lens is clear and not cloudy.

Intraocular lens implants provide an option to refractive surgery. As with LASIK and other forms of refractive surgery, the procedure and lenses are usually not covered by insurance. For a specialist who

Lens Options

Both cataract patients and those with healthy lenses who want to see better without glasses now have more options than ever for improving their vision. Our surgeons can offer single-vision lenses or the newer FDA-approved multi-focal and accommodative lenses that adjust for far, near, and intermediate vision.

Single vision lenses allow both eyes to be corrected for far, or near, or one each for monovision. Patients who have had success with monovision contact lenses (one eye corrected for near and the other for far) may request monovision lens implants. Patients are able to see near and far because each eye takes over for its particular task without the patient being aware of it.

Besides the single-vision lenses, there are three FDA-approved multi-focal lenses, with more in clinical trials. The Crystalens was approved in August of 2003, and is an accommodative lens. It is designed to flex and change position and shape with eye muscle movement. There is an eye-muscle training period to get the best vision, but the end result is functional vision. It has excellent distance and intermediate vision, and reasonable near vision.

The other two lenses, ReSTOR and ReZoom, were both approved in March of 2005 and operate very differently. ReZoom has five concentric zones alternating near and far vision. How your vision works depends not on the eye muscles but the level of light and the size of the pupil. ReZoom also has good distance and intermediate vision and fairly good near vision. People actually can read better in dim light because the pupil dilates.

ReSTOR has a different lens design. It’s more of a near-dominated lens. However, it also depends on the size of the pupil. ReSTOR is better for driving at night because when the pupils dilate in the dark, it has 80% distance vision. This lens is more of a true bifocal, and not as good at intermediate vision.

Some surgeons use ReSTOR in one eye and ReZoom in the other. One of the advantages of both ReSTOR and ReZoom is the bifocal component goes all the way around the lens, so patients get bifocal in every direction. Both these lenses, however, have the drawback of nighttime glare, and wouldn’t be as well tolerated by people who have to drive or work at night.

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Intraocular Lenses

Lens Options

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