People with cataracts now have a viable new option an implanted lens that clears their vision and reduces or eliminates their need to wear corrective glasses. We recently heard from Carol O'Connor, who underwent cataract surgery with the ReSTOR lens a year ago.

"The best thing that has happened to me in the last year is the ReSTOR lens," she reports. "I would buy seven or eight pairs of reading glasses that I could hide all around the house, so I could always have glasses handy. Now I get up in the morning and read the newspaper. At the grocery store. I have no problem reading the price. It has just made life so easy."

During conventional cataract surgery, ophthalmic surgeons replace the patient's hard, clouded lens with a flexible, artificial one that typically corrects for distance vision. With the advanced ReSTOR lens from Alcon, people can see up close for reading as well as far away for driving.

"I'm 72," says Carol, "and very active. I drive, play tennis, line dance, and baby sit my nine grandchildren. Everyone I play bridge and canasta with is jealous because I don't need glasses and they do."

We asked Carol's surgeon, Dr. Kerry Solomon, about who might be good candidates for the new lens. Dr. Solomon, a professor of ophthalmology and specialist in cataract and refractive surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, comments:

"As long as people have healthy eyes, they are candidates for the ReSTOR procedure. This is a quality-of-life benefit that those needing cataract surgery should know about. In fact, you don't necessarily have to have cataracts. Some people come into my practice looking to have Lasik surgery, but choose the ReSTOR lens because it has the ability to give bifocal or multifocal vision--something that Lasik cannot do.

"Lasik uses a laser to reshape the surface of the cornea, the outer portion of the eye. The ReSTOR lens works differently: it replaces the human lens of the eye. Based on the AcrySof lens platform, ReSTOR has an FDA-approved modification to provide not only treatment for cataracts, but presbyopia--the need for reading glasses--for the life of the patient."

Fees range from $1,600 to $2,500 per eye, similar to those of a Lasik procedure. Medicare and other insurance companies cover the cost of cataract surgery plus a portion of the ReSTOR lens for qualifying patients.

"I think I deserved the new lens," explains Carol, who had worn glasses more than 40 years. "I tell people that cost should not be the sole determining factor. It gives me so much freedom. Depending on the style, glasses were expensive, too."

Readers interested in learning more about the ReSTOR lens and locating trained surgeons can log on to the website acrysofrestor.com.