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Nashville, TN | First Laser Trifocal Lens Implant in Tennessee | Wang Vision Institute

Dr. Josh Frenkel of Wang Vision Insitute has performed Tennessee's first laser trifocal intraocular lens implant. Approved by United States Food and Drug Administration in September of 2019, trifocal intraocular lens (Panoptix) represents a revolution in lens technology after cataract surgery in the last 10 years. “At Wang Vision, we are proud to be able to introduce this new vision technology to the state again, and enable the patients in our state to enjoy the excitingly new and wider range of vision”, Dr. Wang said. Just like trifocal glasses, the trifocal intraocular lenses offer a patient excellent vision in all three ranges, distance, intermediate and near. Dr. Wang explains that up until now, the technology has been limited to bifocal lenses, and some of the patients have somewhat diminished vision in the mid range when the lens is targeted for distance and near. “Our current technology can satisfy 2 our of 3 ranges of human vision need, and often our patients are put into position of having to choose which 2 out of 3 ranges that they want, sacrificing the remaining one. The new trifocal lens will enable the appropriate patients to be able to improve vision in all three ranges. This is an exciting, unprecedented and breakthrough eye technology”, Dr. Wang said. Not everyone is a candidate, for the new trifocal lens technology. Dr. Wang emphasized the safety and vision performance can only be obtained if the patient is a right candidate and the surgery is performed with the best technology available such as laser-assisted cataract surgery which was introduced to Tennessee also by the doctors at Wang Vision.

Transcription

Jeanea Weigel: They called and said, "We've got good news. We've got this new lens out and it's going to be the first time in the United States. Would you be interested in it?" I said, absolutely.

Dr. Josh Frenkel: Jeanea was the first laser-assisted implantation of the trifocal lens, the PanOptix lens, in Tennessee. It's a game changer. I mean, it really is. It's probably the biggest jump in lens technology in well over a decade. It's something that, to me, can make so many more people happy. Traditionally, we've only had access to two focal points, so basically kind of bifocal lenses. This actually splits it into technically four points, but they wind up being three focal points. That's where the trifocal comes. It's distance, intermediate and near. It gives a nice continuum of vision.

Jeanea Weigel: I was very nervous, very, very nervous. I was worried that it would hurt, which still blows my mind that there was absolutely no pain with my eye whatsoever.

Dr. Josh Frenkel: It went extremely smoothly, couldn't have planned it any better. Everything was great. She was a great patient. The staff did a great job.

Jeanea Weigel: Being there, we were probably there maybe 50 minutes total. The surgery was approximately 10 minutes. Again, that just blows my mind too because they're taking your natural lens out and then putting a new one in in 10 minutes. It was absolutely incredible.

Dr. Josh Frenkel: Most people are back to doing normal activities with just minimal kind of lifting restrictions the next day. I mean, you can go, if you're at a desk or something, you can go back to work the next day basically.

Jeanea Weigel: I can't believe I just had major eye surgery yesterday. I mean, I can read perfect, even the teeny tiniest line on the little board that they give you to read. I can read it.

Dr. Josh Frenkel: Seeing basically all the letters on the chart, I mean, they were at distance, intermediate and near. I've never seen patients who can read at all three levels like that, especially on the first day after surgery. I was blown away. I thought that our tech was lying to me. I thought she was just messing with me when she told me the vision.

Tripp Weigel: It went fantastic, no pain whatsoever. She was a happy camper last night. I was like, oh, I'm going to have to take care of somebody after surgery and all this, and she just was doing wonderful. Then when she said, "I wished I'd of done this 10 years ago," that's when I knew, hey, that was pretty awesome.

Jeanea Weigel: Now that it's post surgery and not having any pain and just feeling this good in this eye, I wish I would have done it years ago. Of course, they didn't have this lens years ago, but I totally recommend it to everybody.