How much does lens replacement cost?
Interview transcription:
In an interview, Alex Shortt explains the cost of lens replacement.
Interviewer: What are the costs of lens replacement? Presumably, because it’s a bit more of an involved operation than conventional laser eye surgery, the costs are higher. Can you tell me a little bit about what the range of costs is?
Alex Shortt: A standard cataract operation costs in the region of £2,500-3,000. That’s based on the staff costs, the overhead costs, the technology, and the machines. Then you’ve got the cost of a lens implant. The lens implants that are used in standard cataract surgery, such as on the NHS, are single focus lens implants.
When it comes to lens exchange or cataract surgery with multifocal lens implants, these are a significant part of the cost of the procedure. For that reason, costs of refractive lens exchange, or costs of doing cataract surgery combined with sight correction in the form of a multifocal lens tends to be on average £1,000-1,500 more expensive than a straightforward single focus cataract operation lens.
It’s pretty standard in the industry and in the private medical industry for a clinic to be able to provide finance options and to spread that over a period.
About the author
Mr Alex J. Shortt | Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon
MB BCh MSc PhD FRCOphth PGDipCatRef
I’m Alex Shortt, a highly trained academic researcher and Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon based in London’s famous Harley Street medical district. I trained and worked as a consultant for 14 years at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital. I specialise in advanced technologies for correcting vision, including cataract surgery, implantable contact lenses and laser vision correction.
