EDOF replacement lens provides clear vision at all distances.
In 1970, Charles Dinello relocated from his native New York to Florida at age 22 and began a career in real estate. A few years later, however, the US fell into a recession and Charles was forced to pursue another path.
“When the economy went bad, there were no jobs around,” recalls Charles, now 74. “I asked myself a simple question, What kind of job is never affected by the economy? The answer was a job in the medical field. I looked around to see what I could do in a short period of time. Respiratory therapy was a two-year program.”
Charles Dinello
Charles completed the respiratory therapy curriculum at Miami-Dade Community College and began working at a hospital in Hollywood. As a respiratory therapist, he was an integral member of the health care team.
“I gave breathing treatments to patients with lung conditions such as pneumonia and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease),” Charles describes. “I performed ventilator care and assisted with life support and CPR when needed. I also assisted monitoring patients’ chest x-rays for lung changes.”
While Charles enjoyed his job, he says the average salary for a respiratory therapist during the ’70s and ’80s left much to be desired. So, after 20 years in the field, he set out to find a more lucrative profession.
“I always wanted to travel and see the world,” Charles shares. “I interviewed with several airlines and because I speak a foreign language — Italian — I got accepted by Pan Am. I worked as a flight attendant with Pan Am for 13 years and as a flight attendant with American Airlines for 17 years. I’m now retired.”
After three decades of attending to passengers, Charles found himself tending to an issue of his own. Around 2017, cataracts began forming in his eyes and would eventually require surgery to eliminate them.
Cataracts are the clouding of the natural lens inside the eye. The only treatment is removal of the lens and replacing it with a clear, synthetic intraocular lens (IOL).
“My cataracts were a little unusual,” Charles reveals. “They were doughnut-shaped, so the center was clear. It took four years for the film to finally cover the middle of my eyes. The cataracts made my vision hazy. It looked like there was always a little fog in my vision, especially in my left eye.”
Charles has long trusted his eye care to Kyle Bettis, OD, a board-certified optometric physician at Premier Eye Clinic, which has offices in Port Orange and Ormond Beach. This past September, Dr. Bettis examined Charles’ eyes and concluded the time had arrived for cataract surgery.
Team Effort
“I had been monitoring Mr. Dinello’s cataracts for some time before they matured to the point where he couldn’t see well with glasses anymore,” Dr. Bettis reports. “His cataracts had become so dense that he was having trouble seeing clearly at night and seeing to perform his daily tasks.
“At that time, I recommended cataract surgery and suggested the Alcon AcrySof® IQ Vivity® replacement lens. The Vivity is one of the newest lenses on the market. It’s a new type of lens. It stretches light rays entering the eye to provide crystal clear distance and intermediate vision and functional near vision without glasses.”
The Vivity is an extended depth of focus, or EDOF, lens. It is a premium lens that corrects presbyopia, a type of farsightedness that occurs with age, and does not cause the halos around lights or ghost images that some patients receiving multifocal IOLs have reported.
Patients receiving the Vivity IOL may still need reading glasses to see very small print, but for the most part their need for glasses will be greatly diminished following cataract surgery.
At Premier Eye Clinic, Dr. Bettis and Ashley C. Royce, OD, work in close collaboration with board-certified ophthalmologist and ophthalmic surgeon Q. Jocelyn Ge, MD, PhD, to give patients the highest quality care with the best possible outcomes.
“We work as a team,” Dr. Ge emphasizes. “When it’s determined that a patient of Dr. Bettis or Dr. Royce needs eye surgery, the patient is referred to me. I evaluate the patients, taking into consideration the assessment from Dr. Bettis or Dr. Royce, and plan the optimal treatment for the patients.”
“Charles was very interested in reducing his dependence on glasses,” Dr. Ge recalls. “He is very active and has many hobbies, including shooting sports. He was wearing glasses 100 percent of the time for farsightedness and astigmatism, or football-shaped cornea, which is the front clear window of the eye.”
“It Works Fantastic”
Following the consultation, Dr. Ge agreed with Dr. Bettis that Charles required cataract surgery to improve his vision and that Charles was an excellent candidate for the Vivity lens, which also comes in a toric version that corrects astigmatism. The toric version of the lens is what Dr. Ge recommended for Charles.
Cataract surgery is typically scheduled one eye at a time. Dr. Ge operated on Charles’ left eye on October 11. The next day, the vision in that eye was 20/20 without any corrective glasses. In November, the procedure on Charles’ right eye produced a similar result. Charles is thrilled with the outcome.
“Dr. Ge implanted a new, progressive lens that also takes care of astigmatism, and it works fantastic,” Charles enthuses. “I now have 20/20 vision in both eyes. I can see distance and close up. I don’t need glasses to read. The haze in my vision is gone. Everything is crystal clear.
“Dr. Bettis and Dr. Ge are very good. They’re knowledgeable and efficient. They did a great job. The staff is super nice and knowledgeable as well. My experience at Premier Eye Clinic was a pleasure.”
