For people who have poor eye sight, and have had to use one or more visual aids, the desire for unassisted sight is acute. It explains why a growing number of people of 40 or more years, and who have never known life without a pair of eye glasses, are choosing to undergo refractive eye exchange procedures.
Efforts in the past to find a treatment for myopia and hyperopia were never fully satisfying, but through this surgery, also known simply as RLE, at last there is a permanent cure to these conditions. Glasses are no longer needed, and the full impact of the great outdoors can be experienced.
Simply put, by opting to have refractive eye surgery done, replacing the natural lens with a precision designed intraocular lens to counter the flaws of the cornea, a person can see their quality of life improve dramatically. Here are some ways in which this improvement can be manifest.
Rediscovered Independence
The first key advantage is the fact that a sense of independence is rediscovered. There are two kinds of patients that have refractive surgery done. The first has never had good eye sight, and has been forced to wear glasses from a young age. The second has seen their eye sight worsen over the years, with age the chief culprit for the fall in vision quality.
For both groups, the need to wear glasses, carry glasses with them everywhere, and have the worry of not losing the glasses, seeing them stolen or damaged, can be debilitating. But with the need for glasses removed, the independence that not having to think about them brings is rejuvenating.
Enjoy Sports Again
Many glasses wearers, and especially those who wear them due to progressive conditions, have realised that they can no longer fully enjoy many of their sporting interests. Golfers struggle with their shots, footballers, through laws of the game cannot play with glasses on, and runners have to suffer unwelcome discomfort.
By getting surgery that removes the need for glasses, these sports can be enjoyed again, just as they once were. Golfers can sink putts from distance again, footballers can enjoy a kick about with friends, and runners can avoid the inconvenience of glasses steaming up or slipping off as they pound the tarmac.
No Juggling Visual Aids
Perhaps the most inconvenient aspect of wearing glasses is the changing around from one type of visual aid to another. Depending on the severity of an eye condition, these aids can vary from eye glasses with thick lenses to even magnifying glasses. Sufferers of chronic presbyopia, for example, sometimes require extreme aids.
The fact that juggling glasses, contacts and magnifying glasses can become a thing of the past, makes the surgical option well worth it and clearly changes the life of extreme sufferers very much for the better.
Seeing is Believing
For those of us with good eye sight, it is very easy to take for granted our ability to see around us clearly without any real effort. We are able to take a walk in the park and enjoy the sights, or go hiking in the countryside and see nature in all its glory. Even when it comes to spending time with family and friends, we can witness everything that is going on without having to reach for a pair of glasses to see what everyone is laughing about.
For those with poor eye sight, this privilege is something to savour. The result of surgery and the restored vision that it provides, is a feeling of inclusion and not exclusion.
Lower Costs
This might not be a direct benefit of improved eye sight, but there is a fiscal advantage that can help to improve life that little bit more. Because refractive eye surgery will see the flawed lens replaced by a permanent lens, there is no need for further treatment. That means the whole procedure is a once off event.
Glasses, however, get lost or damaged or go out of style, requiring new pairs to be bought, while any cataract that may develop in the future would also need surgery, while a refractive lens exchange serves to deal with a host of other conditions. So, with glasses, there are always further expenses around the corner.
When all is taken onto account, it is impossible to argue that eye surgery, and specifically RLE, does not bring a greater quality of life to those who have undergone the procedure.