PRELEX means Presbyopic Lens Exchange.
Each eye has a natural lens. In order for us to see clearly the lens has to be clear and has to have the appropriate foucsing optical power (prescription). If your are short or long sighted, your lens does not have the correct optical power. Spectacles or contact lenses can correct this error. You can also have your natural lens exchanged for an artificial lens of the appropriate prescription. This procedure also helps with presbyopia.
Presbyopia
Presbyopia is one of the first signs of middle age. It becomes increasingly more difficult to focus and you have to hold objects further and further away to see them properly. If you are short sighted and presbyopic you will notice that your vision is blurred, even with spectacles. In fact for objects close to you, you may be able to focus better without your spectacles but would still need spectacles for driving and distance objects.
‘’As my vision has deteriorated with age, I’ve had to wear glasses over my contact lenses for certain things. Computer work was difficult because I had my glasses on and off to look at my papers and at my computer screen. Driving was difficult. I had prescription sunglasses, ordinary sunglasses for over my contact lenses, it just became an absolute pain’’
It is a fact that as you get older your vision will change. These changes occur in the lens within your eye. Refractive procedures that change the focussing power of the eye by making changes to the cornea (Lasik) are most effective in younger eyes, where the lens can still change its focussing power.
If your vision is deteriorating due to age (presbyopia) it is the lens within your eye that has lost ability to focus and PRELEX means exchanging the lens for a multifocal lens that will improve your ability to focus.