A patient’s question

Laser correction or lens replacement: what the choice depends on

The short answer: the choice is made not by preference but by the results of diagnostics. Laser changes the shape of the cornea and suits you when the cornea is healthy and your vision is stable. Lens replacement changes the lens inside the eye itself and is needed when the problem is already in the lens — with age-related changes or clouding. These are different tasks, and diagnostics shows which one is yours.

Tell us about your situation

What diagnostics decides

The condition of the cornea

Its thickness and shape determine whether laser treatment is possible at all.

The condition of the lens

If it has started to cloud or has lost the ability to focus up close, laser will not solve the problem — it is not in the cornea.

Age and stability of vision

Laser correction is done when vision is no longer changing; with age-related changes in near vision the choice is different.

Accompanying conditions

The retina, eye pressure, dry eye — all of this is checked before any method is discussed.

How it works with us

Enquiry and a preliminary conversation

If you have test results and reports, they can be discussed in advance.

Full diagnostics on site

It is required before any intervention — the method is chosen only on the basis of its results.

Choice of method and type of lens

Laser correction, refractive lens exchange or a multifocal lens.

Procedure and check-up

Most interventions are outpatient, and a follow-up examination is scheduled afterwards.

What neither method does

It does not stop ageing

After laser correction, age-related changes in the lens still come in their own time.

It does not treat the retina

Retinal conditions are a separate matter and are treated separately. Correction does not cancel them.

It does not guarantee glasses-free vision for everyone

Multifocal lenses give sharpness at different distances and allow most patients to stop wearing glasses, but they do not suit everyone — the doctor decides.

It is not decided over the phone

Your situation can be discussed remotely from your reports, but the method is named after diagnostics on site.

Common questions

Preliminarily — yes, if you have recent test results. Definitively — only after diagnostics at the clinic: it is that data which determines both the method and the type of lens.
Technically it is similar: a cloudy lens, or one that has lost its function, is replaced with an artificial one. The difference is in the indications — with a cataract the lens has already clouded, while refractive lens exchange addresses age-related changes in vision.
As a rule, from one to two days: diagnostics, the intervention and a follow-up examination. The exact schedule is given in your plan.

What else to read

Ophthalmology

All the treatments in this area: laser, lens, cataract, retina.

Trip for eye surgery

How many days you need and how they go.

Doctors

Who will operate: experience, training, speciality.

Tell us about your situation — the doctor will say what to look at

If you have recent test results, attach them. A clinic ophthalmologist will review them and say which method to discuss and what to check at diagnostics.

Submit an enquiry

Medically reviewed by: Doç. Dr. Muhammet Derda Özer — Ophthalmology · Associate Professor; Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Önder Aslan — Ophthalmology; Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Muhammed Talha Sadık — Ophthalmology