Middle aged, or older, people will often find themselves suffering from vision problems as their eyes weaken with age. Common vision issues include cataracts as well as short and long sightedness. While most people will opt for glasses to cure the latter two, cataracts usually get worse over time and result in blurry vision as the eyes natural lens starts to cloud over. While the traditional treatment for this, once in an advanced stage, is cataract surgery, it is necessary to wait till the condition has advanced enough to qualify for the procedure. Fortunately, a new procedure, refractive lens exchange, can now be done without having to wait as long, allowing the person to regain sharper vision faster. This has allowed many people over fifty to regain their independence, not to mention their eyesight, and return to their daily lives with clear vision.

People with normal vision have lenses that allow the light to pass through to the retina without any hindrance, where the light is changed to nerve signals that allow the eye to determine what it is seeing. If the lens becomes cloudy, the images become blurred. As people get older, the lens becomes cloudier and less flexible as the proteins that make up the lens change with age.

Cataracts do not cause any harm to the eye, but as they develop, vision deteriorates due to the cloudiness. This can interfere with daily activities, especially since there is no treatment for cataracts until they advance enough to be surgically treated. Since there is no interim solution to the problem, this condition can prove to be dangerous and puts older people at risk for injuries and falls. Cataract surgery is traditionally only performed once the condition has advanced to a stage where the patient can barely see at all.

Furthermore, older people usually suffer from multiple vision issues, of which cataracts are only one. Multiple issues usually need multiple solutions, which can be quite costly, which is why most people over the age of fifty will seek treatment for cataracts once they pass a certain age, but not do anything about their weakening eyesight.

However, those who suffer from refractive errors as well as cataracts can now opt for refractive lens exchange which can be the ideal eye vision correction procedure to opt for. This procedure is the new alternative to LASIK and similar procedures, and can correct even those refractive errors that laser eye surgery cannot fix. Since the corneal tissue is not touched in this procedure, it is an excellent option for those who have thin corneas or dry eyes since it will not cause any detrimental side effects for them.

The entire procedure takes just twenty minutes per eye and only requires the use of a mild sedative for the patient. It takes one week for the vision to clear after surgery, and the vision will keep improving for one month. The patient will need to use eye drops during this time to keep the eyes from getting too dry and reduce the risk of infection. It is recommended the patient take one day off from work to allow the eyes to rest right after the procedure, and most people are able to return to work the day after their surgery.

While this procedure can also correct both short-sightedness and long-sightedness, it is a welcome relief from all those who suffer from cataracts and would have had to wait till their condition had progressed to a certain stage before they could get surgery. It allows older people to regain clear sightedness faster, and regain their independence, since they can opt for this procedure as soon as the cataracts start to form.

As with all surgical procedures, it is important to choose the right eye doctor when researching this procedure since not all surgeons are able to perform the refractive lens exchange. All eye vision correction surgeries should be approached with caution and only after full research has been done to ensure the patient understands the process and recovery time needed. One of the places that offer eye vision correction surgery is Yorkshire eye hospital which is well known as one of the leading eye hospitals in the world.