Key Takeaway

• Comprehensive 2-hour Evaluations: Every consultation features an unhurried, thorough diagnostic workup led by a world-renowned team of technicians, optometrists, and surgeons.
• Advanced Diagnostic Precision: Technologies that utilize ray tracing and swept-source optical coherence tomography help build a precise clinical blueprint for your eyes.
• Tailored Lens Matching: We collaborate with you to select the ideal monofocal, multifocal, accommodating, or toric lens for your lifestyle.
• Permanent Vision Solution: Lens replacement surgery eliminates refractive errors, addresses presbyopia, and permanently prevents future cataract formation.

You have likely pictured the experience before you ever book it: a crowded waiting room, a rushed checklist, a passing recommendation. A lens replacement surgery consultation at OVO LASIK + LENS is designed to feel entirely different from standard healthcare. For our Saint Louis Park patients, mapping your eyes for a permanent procedure like Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE) cannot be rushed. Rather than a hurried assessment, your visit unfolds as a comprehensive, 2-hour evaluation anchored by world-renowned surgeons who take the time to understand your daily routine as thoroughly as your measurements. Here is exactly what to expect from that conversation: a custom lens replacement plan, built entirely around how you live.

What Happens During Your Lens Replacement Surgery Consultation, Step by Step?

Your custom lens replacement consultation unfolds at Minnesota’s only office-based RLE surgery suite, where the team for Dr. Mark Lobanoff and Dr. Martha Whiting — recognized among America’s Top Doctors®— leads you through a focused series of diagnostic tests. Here is what each step reveals:

1. Visual Acuity Assessment. We begin with a meticulous measurement of how clearly you see at every distance, using precision eye charts and digital acuity testing to establish the exact functional baseline we rely on for the rest of your evaluation.

2. Prescription Verification. First, a hands-on lens comparison: you tell us which option looks clearer as we narrow in on your prescription. Then, a digital instrument automatically verifies that reading, ensuring the result is accurate before it factors into your surgical plan.
3. High-Resolution Corneal Mapping. Using the Veron Image Guided System, we build a detailed, three-dimensional map of your cornea, catching astigmatism and subtle irregularities a standard eye exam would miss. These details let us plan your lens replacement surgery with far greater precision.
4. Eye Length & Lens-Power Measurement. We use specialized equipment to measure the exact length and curve of your eye. Getting these measurements right allows your custom lens replacement to deliver sharp, predictable vision after surgery without needing extra touch-ups later.
5. Eye Pressure Check. We use a quick, painless test called a tonometry, to measure the pressure inside your eye. This keeps the procedure safe and screens for conditions like glaucoma so nothing is overlooked before surgery.
6. Retinal & Lens Health Evaluation. We take a direct, thorough look at your retina, optic nerve, and natural lens using a dilated exam. This step checks for hidden issues like early retinal changes, confirming that your eyes are healthy and that replacing your natural lens with an advanced IOL is a safe, lasting solution.

Together, these six measurements give us more than a standard diagnosis. They become the precise clinical blueprint we rely on to confirm your candidacy for lens replacement surgery and select the exact intraocular lens built for your life. That blueprint is where your candidacy truly comes into focus.

How Is My Candidacy For Lens Replacement Surgery Determined?

Candidacy for lens replacement surgery flows directly from your ninety-minute diagnostic evaluation: your retinal and pressure checks confirm your ocular health, your corneal mapping and lens-power measurements define your precise refractive profile, and our conversation about your daily visual demands uncovers your lifestyle aspirations. For our Saint Louis Park patients, we look for several distinct factors:

• You are 40 or older and navigating the onset of presbyopia, where holding a phone or menu at arm’s length has become a daily necessity for near focus.
• You have nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism that glasses or contacts no longer correct with the precision you require.
• You fall outside the ideal candidacy for standard laser vision correction due to thinner corneas or an elevated prescription.
• You seek a singular, permanent vision solution that also eliminates the possibility of future cataract formation.

For most patients exploring RLE, candidacy stems from an overlapping mix of the gradual loss of reading vision from presbyopia, an unstable prescription, and structural traits like thin corneas that rule out traditional laser vision correction like LASIK. If you’re navigating several of these, RLE often becomes the recommendation, because it bypasses the cornea entirely, replacing your aging natural lens with an advanced intraocular lens (IOL) that simultaneously corrects refractive errors, fixes presbyopia, and permanently prevents cataracts. Once your diagnostic results confirm you’re a good fit, one final, personal decision remains: choosing the right custom replacement lens built for how you actually want to see, from sharp distance vision to effortless close-up focus.

How Do We Help You Choose Your Custom Lens Replacement at OVO?

Not every RLE patient wants the same balance of near and distance vision, which is exactly where custom lens replacement — another term for the same RLE procedure — earns its name. We look to match a lens type to how you actually use your eyes, whether that’s crisp distance vision behind the wheel or seamless near vision at the computer. Custom lens replacement options include:

1. Monofocal lenses deliver the sharpest distance vision, an excellent choice if you prioritize crisp sight for driving or the golf course and don’t mind reading glasses for fine print.
2. Multifocal lenses provide a full range of vision from near to far, often eliminating the need for glasses in daily life almost entirely.
3. Light Adjustable Lenses (LAL) provide flexibility in visual outcomes after the implantation is complete by allowing patients to test out the visual range and doctors to make changes throughout their post-operative period with the use of a specialized UV light device.
4. Toric lenses correct astigmatism with precision and can be paired with any of the above for a sharper, more complete outcome.

At OVO, choosing the right lens is a collaborative conversation where we weigh every finding from your diagnostic workup against years of specialized surgical judgment to recommend the ideal match for your eyes. Once your lens is selected, our advanced technology takes over. These technologies ensure your custom lens is calibrated not just to your prescription, but to the life you intend to keep living: reading on the patio, watching the golf balls fly at the club, or catching the sunset over Lake Minnetonka without ever reaching for a pair of readers.

What Are Your Next Steps After Your RLE Consultation?

If you’re confirmed as a strong RLE candidate, we build your treatment plan, and walk you through realistic outcomes and recovery timeline: most patients return to their routines within days, with full visual stabilization over 2–4 weeks, and eligible patients may choose OVO’s one-and-done experience, correcting both eyes in a single surgical visit rather than scheduling two separate procedures. If RLE isn’t the immediate fit, or if your evaluation points you toward options like LASIK or EVO ICL instead, we outline that alternative right away so you leave with a clear, personalized recommendation.

Clear Answers to Your Most Important Questions About Lens Replacement Surgery

Deciding on custom lens replacement is a significant step, and you deserve complete transparency before making your choice. Here are the answers to the questions our patients ask most often as they step into our Saint Louis Park suite.

1. How Much Does Lens Replacement Surgery Cost, and Does Insurance Cover It?

RLE is a self-pay elective procedure that is typically not covered by traditional health insurance. To make your investment seamless, we accept HSA and FSA funds alongside flexible financing through CareCredit, including interest-free plans. Your consultation includes fully transparent, upfront pricing tailored specifically to your custom treatment plan.

2. Is There An Age Limit For a Custom Lens Replacement?

No, age isn’t a limiting factor; as long as your eyes are healthy, a patient in their sixties or seventies can be just as strong a candidate as someone in their forties or fifties.

3. How Is RLE Different From Cataract Surgery?

While the surgical technique is virtually identical, the timing and intent are distinct. Cataract surgery removes an eye’s natural lens after it has already clouded from disease, whereas RLE replaces a clear lens to eliminate presbyopia and refractive errors, while permanently preventing the formation of cataracts.

4. Is Lens Replacement Surgery Permanent?

Yes. Your custom lens is engineered to last a lifetime, and because it replaces the natural structure where cataracts develop, you will never need cataract surgery in that eye.

5. Can I Have RLE If I’ve Had LASIK Before?

In most cases, yes! While prior laser vision correction alters the geometry of the cornea and requires complex calculations, our advanced optical biometry and specialized diagnostics are designed to manage these variables with precision.

6. What Kind of Aftercare Does OVO Provide Once My Procedure is Complete?

OVO’s Elite World Class Aftercare keeps a dedicated team invested in your comfort and results long after your procedure, with attentive follow-up support built into every RLE journey. We are with you every step of the way, including a doctor on-call 24/7 to address any immediate concerns.

“After wearing glasses for 50 years, I was hesitant about corrective eye surgery — but OVO recommended Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE), and it was fast, painless, and an unmitigated success. At my post-surgery checkup the next day, I had better than 20/20 vision. I still can’t believe I no longer need corrective lenses, not even reading glasses, thanks to OVO and RLE.” — Michael H, Google Review.

Book Your Custom Lens Replacement Surgery Consultation at OVO Today

Your clearest vision starts with a single conversation. At OVO LASIK + LENS in Saint Louis Park, our world-renowned surgeons confirm your candidacy, map your eyes with precision behind every step of your consultation, and match you to the lens built for how you live. Let our team show you what your vision can look like, not just what your prescription says it should. Contact OVO LASIK + LENS or call 877-686-3937 to book your lens replacement surgery consultation today.