Custom Lens Replacement in San Francisco

The natural lens inside your eye starts to lose its flexibility and clarity in your early 40s. That's why reading glasses, bifocals, and progressives can become necessary around that age, and it's the same process that can eventually become a cataract.

Custom Lens Replacement (CLR) treats the cause. Dr. Ling removes the natural lens and replaces it with an intraocular lens implant (IOL) selected for your eyes and the way you want to see. The new lens doesn't age, so it holds its focus and clarity indefinitely, and you will never develop a cataract. The procedure is the same one used in modern cataract surgery, performed earlier, with a lens chosen around how you want to see.

Because the procedure involves choosing from a wide range of lens options, it matters to work with a surgeon who performs CLR regularly and can walk you through what each lens does well. That conversation happens at your Vision Consultation with Dr. Ling.

We offer the full range of intraocular lens options, because vision correction should be built around the individual:

Single-focus monofocal lenses: One clear focal distance, usually set for distance vision, with reading glasses for near work. The simplest optics and the fewest visual side effects.

Extended-depth-of-focus lenses: A continuous range of clear vision from distance through intermediate (computer, dashboard, cooking), with less dependence on glasses for everyday tasks.

Full-range multifocal lenses: Distance, intermediate, and near vision from a single lens, for people who want to be as free of glasses as possible.

Light Adjustable Lenses: The only lens whose power can be fine-tuned after surgery. Once your eyes have healed, Dr. Ling adjusts the lens with a series of light treatments until your vision is exactly where you want it, then locks it in. Dr. Ling is a key opinion leader for RxSight, the maker of the Light Adjustable Lens.

We help you choose based on your anatomy, the findings from your Advanced Vision Consultation, and your preferences.

Most patients notice improved vision and less dependence on glasses the day after the procedure, with visual recovery continuing over a few days. Right after surgery, you may have blurriness and light sensitivity from the dilating drops, and some scratchiness or tearing. The best thing to do is rest with your eyes closed and take a nap.

Depending on the lens you choose, you may notice glare or halos around lights at first. For most people, the visual system adapts over a few weeks.