Posted by: Batchelet Eye in Clinic Events
At Batchelet Eye, we’ve always believed that the best patient care happens when ophthalmologists and optometrists work as a team. So a few weeks ago, we hosted a continuing education evening for the optometrists who refer patients to us from across Western Pennsylvania — a chance to share data, talk through the latest cataract surgery technology, and have an honest conversation about what makes co-management work.
The focus of the event was the Light Adjustable Lens — the only cataract lens that can be customized after surgery — along with a deeper discussion of dropless cataract surgery and how Dr. Batchelet’s practice approaches the postoperative experience differently than most.
For our patients reading this, we want to share some of what was discussed. Because the conversations that happen between your eye doctors behind the scenes are part of what makes your care better — and the technology and approach we covered that evening directly shape the quality of vision you can expect at Batchelet Eye.
Why This Event Mattered
Cataract surgery has changed more in the last ten years than in the previous fifty. New lens technologies, new surgical techniques, and new postoperative protocols have transformed what’s possible. But that progress only reaches patients when the entire local eye care community — surgeons and optometrists alike — stays current together.
Most patients don’t see this part of their care. They see their optometrist for routine exams, get referred to a surgeon when cataracts develop, and then return to their optometrist for ongoing care afterward. What happens between those visits — the communication, the shared treatment philosophy, the alignment on expectations — is what determines whether the experience feels seamless or fragmented.
Dr. Batchelet built this practice with that handoff in mind. As he told the room: this practice exists for co-management. Not as a side benefit. As the entire reason it was founded.
What Makes the Light Adjustable Lens Different
The centerpiece of the evening was a deep dive into the Light Adjustable Lens, or LAL. We’ve written about this technology before — Dr. Batchelet is one of only four surgeons in Western Pennsylvania offering it — but the CE event was the right place to talk about how it actually performs in real patients.
Here’s the short version, in patient-friendly language:
Every other cataract lens on the market — monofocal, toric, trifocal — is a fixed lens. Once it’s placed in your eye during surgery, the prescription is permanent. Surgeons do their best to predict the exact lens power your eye will need based on pre-surgical measurements, but even with the most sophisticated equipment, “very close” isn’t always “exactly right.”
The Light Adjustable Lens flips that workflow on its head. The lens is implanted during surgery, your eye heals for about 17 days, and then Dr. Batchelet uses a series of painless light treatments in the office — three to five sessions — to fine-tune the lens’s power based on how you’re actually seeing in your real life. Like getting a custom prescription, except the prescription is built into your eye itself.
Most premium cataract procedures fit the patient to the lens. The LAL fits the lens to the patient. It’s the difference between an off-the-rack suit and a tailored one.
What Our Outcomes Actually Look Like
One of the most important parts of the evening was sharing our own clinical results — not the manufacturer’s published averages, but the actual outcomes our patients experience at Batchelet Eye.
A few highlights from the data Dr. Batchelet shared:
- For patients receiving the Light Adjustable Lens, 86% achieve 20/15 vision or better at distance without glasses, and 100% achieve 20/20 or better.
- For near vision, 90% can read at the J1 level or better — the small-print line on the standard near-vision card.
- When it comes to refractive accuracy, 98% of our LAL patients land within half a diopter of the goal, compared to a published industry average of about 94%.
- 77% of our LAL patients are happy after just one light adjustment treatment. Another 18% need two. Only about 5% need a third.
The difference isn’t enormous on paper, but in patient experience, it’s the difference between someone who’s delighted and someone who’s mostly satisfied. We aim for delighted.
These numbers aren’t published in a brochure. They come from our own clinical registry, and we share them with referring optometrists openly so they know exactly what to expect when they send a patient to us.
The Honest Conversation About Dropless Surgery
The second half of the evening was devoted to dropless cataract surgery — a technique Dr. Batchelet has now performed approximately 20,000 times.
For patients who haven’t heard the term: traditional cataract surgery sends you home with a complex schedule of three or four medicated eye drops, taken multiple times a day for several weeks. Antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and steroids — staggered on different schedules. For patients with arthritis, busy lives, or simply the natural difficulty of remembering a complicated regimen, that’s a real burden.
With dropless cataract surgery, those same medications are placed inside the eye during the procedure, in long-acting formulations that release slowly during the healing window. Patients go home without bottles to juggle. Compliance becomes a non-issue, because there’s nothing to be non-compliant with.
What Dr. Batchelet walked the optometrists through wasn’t just the convenience side — it was the evidence. A 2016 Kaiser Permanente study of 315,246 cataract procedures showed that patients receiving intracameral antibiotics alone, without any post-operative drops, had a lower rate of endophthalmitis (the most serious post-cataract infection) than patients who received topical antibiotic drops on top of standard care. More recent guidance from major international cataract societies has continued to support the safety and effectiveness of the dropless approach.
For the right patient, dropless surgery is safer, simpler, and more affordable — averaging about $324 less per patient in Medicare Part D costs alone. For patients with certain conditions (high pre-op pressure, certain glaucoma situations, macular issues), traditional drop regimens still make more sense. The honest framework Dr. Batchelet shared: dropless isn’t for everyone, but for most patients, it’s a meaningful upgrade to the recovery experience.
What This Means for Patients
If you’re considering cataract surgery — or if your optometrist has mentioned that cataracts are starting to develop — here’s what we’d want you to take from all of this:
Cataract surgery is no longer one decision. It’s a series of personal choices: which lens technology fits your life, whether you’re a candidate for the most advanced options, and how you want your recovery to look. The right answers depend entirely on you — your daily activities, your visual priorities, your eye health, and your tolerance for the small trade-offs each option carries.
What you should expect from any cataract practice you consider is an honest, unhurried conversation about all of it. Not a sales pitch. Not a default recommendation. A real discussion that includes what each lens won’t do as much as what it will.
That’s the standard we hold ourselves to at Batchelet Eye, and it’s the same standard we ask of the optometrists who co-manage care with us.
What This Means for Referring Optometrists
To the optometrists who attended — and to those who couldn’t make it this time — thank you for the partnership. The energy and clinical depth in that room is exactly what makes this co-management model work for our shared patients.
For ODs who’d like the slide deck, our updated consult request form, or the published references on dropless surgery and LAL outcomes, please reach out to our office directly. We’ll get them to you. And if you’d like to schedule a one-on-one visit with Dr. Batchelet to talk through co-management workflows for your specific patient population, we’d welcome that too.
We’re already planning the next CE event for later this year. If you’d like to be on the invitation list, let us know.
Looking Ahead
The technology and techniques we discussed that evening — the Light Adjustable Lens, dropless surgery, and the kind of careful, individualized lens selection that makes both possible — are part of what’s making Batchelet Eye different in Western Pennsylvania. And they’re part of why so many local optometrists trust us with their patients.
If you’re a patient researching cataract surgery options, we’d love to talk. With three convenient locations — Grove City, New Castle, and St. Marys — and a surgical team led by Dr. Andy Batchelet, who personally sees and operates on every patient, the next step is just a conversation.
Schedule a consultation today and find out what your best vision could look like.