Dr. Paul Cutarelli, the first ophthalmologist to implant an advanced nanoFLEX lens

A Denver ophthalmologist recently became the first in Colorado to implant a special type of lens during cataract surgery, raising the bar for patient care in the state while increasing the quality of life for his patients.

Dr. Paul Cutarelli, director of Cutarelli Vision in Denver and Fort Collins, said he implanted an advanced nanoFLEX lens in October in the eye of a 70-year-old man whose cataracts in his left eye were so bad he couldn't read any more. Manufactured by STAAR Surgical, the revolutionary lens offers better quality of vision at night, filters ultraviolet light and is made of a high-tech material so close to the human lens that it's easily tolerated by the eye, greatly lowering inflammation complications.

His patient was a retiree who didn't want to lose his active lifestyle, one that includes riding his Harley with his girlfriend, Cutarelli said.

"He waited until I got on his insurance plan," Cutarelli said. "He didn't want anyone else to do the cataract surgery and wanted to have good reading vision in that eye."

The procedure in the patient's left eye took about 10 minutes, during which Cutarelli removed the bad lens and replaced it with the implant.

Just a few hours later, the patient called the doctor from home and told him he could read clearly and saw better out of his left eye than his right one.

The news was part of what makes the doctor's work so rewarding. And the special lens has a very high patient satisfaction rate, he said.

"It's fantastic to work with patients like this because I can help them stay active. This is a quality of life issue. Without this lens, this guy wouldn't be able to live the full life that he enjoys."

The procedure is just one of many "firsts" for Cutarelli in Colorado. He also was the first to use the lens in northern Colorado at his Fort Collins practice. That surgery also took place in October. His patient is a Wal-Mart greeter whose vision is now 20/20 and saw vibrant colors for the first time in many years.

He was also the first to use Intacs to fight keratoconus, a disease that causes debilitating astigmatisms and fluctuating vision problems in patients. Intacs are plastic rings implanted under the eye's outer most layer, the cornea, and correct its distorted shape caused by pressure problems associated with the disease.