For many people suffering with cataracts, it takes surgery to help restore eyesight and even then most people have to wear glasses. Now new technology in the Valley hopes to have people seeing clearer.

Judy Lopez first started noticing problems with her vision while doing everyday activities. Lopez says she couldn’t see things close to her, "computer work couldn't read the street signs." Her doctor said cataracts were slowly taking her sight. "And you don't even notice until you try and see something special or try to read and you gotta go find your glasses," says, Lopez.

After consulting with her doctor she decided she wanted something more than the average cataract lens replacement. Dr. Oster an optometrist with the Grand Valley Lasik Institute says, "Traditionally when patients had cataract surgery they only had a chance of a monofocal lens."

Dr. Oster says, a new multifocal lens by Tecnis gives patients the desired vision at long distances as well as other ranges. "It has good near vision and good intermediate all without glasses," says, Dr. Oster. This new lens is something that's just been recently approved in the U.S. Dr. Oster says, "Currently we are the only practice in the Grand Valley that offers this Tecnis Multifocal implant." The surgery takes under half an hour and most people are seeing with near perfect vision in days. Dr. Oster says, "We'll never be quite as good as God designed or Mother Nature designed but it’s probably the best of what we have now."

And the best for now is good enough for Lopez, who has the Tecnis Multifocal lens in her left eye and will soon have surgery to replace the lens in her right eye. Lopez says, "It just feels like its been there forever, I've never seen this well I don't think in my whole life." And for Lopez it's the small things that make seeing believing.

Medicare benefits usually apply to cataract surgery for patients 65 and older.