LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The ability to see is a sense that many people take for granted until they get older. Many adults above the age of 60 develop cataracts making the surgery the most performed procedure in the United States.
Now, Baptist Health is using new technology to make patients’ vision better than ever before.
Crisp headlights and clear street signs are what the road should look like when you get behind the wheel, but for Melinda McWhirter, it was all a blur.
“At night when I drove it was harder for me to see,” McWhirter said.
Like many adults after the age of 60, she developed cataracts last year. When it was time for her annual eye exam, her doctor referred her to Baptist Health Little Rock Eye Clinic. Ophthalmic Surgeon Dr. Christian Hester has been performing these surgeries for almost two decades but now, there is new technology giving even better results.
“This is one of the biggest advancements in cataract surgery in the last decade,” Dr. Hester said.
It’s called the Light Adjustable Lens. The operation is the same, but as the name suggests doctors can tweak the lens to each patient.
“In about two to three weeks after surgery we can begin making adjustments to the lens,” Dr. Hester said.
Hester said they could make one to three adjustments before locking in the lens.
“To leave the patient with even less or hopefully no glasses prescription,” Dr. Hester said.
McWhirter is one of the first patients with the state-of-the-art technology.
“I’m so glad he recommended it because it’s been the best,” McWhirter said.
She says after her follow-up appointments, her vision is now 20/20.
“Nothing, no contacts, no glasses no nothing,” McWhirter said. “I can see up close, I can see far away, I can drive at night, I can do anything I want to.”
