Eye Surgeon Opinions Around The Globe
- Kevin
- Mar 10
- 3 min read
My honest opinion on Galaxy (as a surgeon)
The following piece has been obtained through the user's Reddit post, follow the link below for more details.
"Hello everyone,
I have seen quite a few posts about the Rayner Galaxy intraocular lens (IOL) and wanted to share my honest review based on personal experience.
For context, I am a fellowship-trained Corneal, Cataract, and Refractive Surgeon from Latin America with a PhD in Vision Sciences.
Working in Latin America allows us to implant lenses that are not yet FDA-approved, such as the Galaxy.
To date, I have implanted over 700 of these lenses. For full disclosure, I am a speaker for Rayner, although I also collaborate with several other IOL manufacturers, so I believe my opinion remains objective.
Another point worth mentioning is that a large proportion of my cases—around 70%—are refractive lens exchange (RLE) in clear lenses, while only about 30% are true cataracts. Consequently, my patient base is relatively young and typically more visually demanding than older patients.
One of the main challenges with simultaneous-vision IOLs is dysphotopsia—that is, the perception of haloes, light streaks, or other unwanted optical phenomena, especially at night. I have implanted many trifocal diffractive lenses, and while most patients experience only mild dysphotopsia, a small subset find it intolerable, occasionally requiring IOL exchange (a rare but undesirable outcome).
The Galaxy lens, in my experience, has performed exceptionally well in this regard. Most patients report only faint haloes that tend to disappear within three months. With other trifocal lenses, this adaptation period typically lasts between six and twelve months, so the Galaxy seems to deliver a noticeably faster and more comfortable neuroadaptation process.
Near and intermediate visual outcomes have been outstanding.
None of my Galaxy patients require spectacles for near or intermediate tasks; nearly all can read comfortably from the first postoperative day.
I have been genuinely impressed with the performance of this lens in these ranges.
However, distance vision has been less striking. Patients often achieve around 20/30 uncorrected distance vision during the first month and may express mild dissatisfaction early on.
By two months, distance vision usually reaches 20/20, but patients are not as enthusiastic about it as they are about their near and intermediate performance.
After considerable analysis, discussion with colleagues, and review of defocus curves, I have adopted a “Mix and Match” approach—implanting a Rayner EMV (EDOF) lens in the dominant eye and a Rayner Galaxy in the non-dominant eye.
This combination, in my experience, provides the best of both worlds: excellent distance vision from the EDOF lens and outstanding intermediate and near vision from the Galaxy. Across more than 100 such cases, I cannot recall a single dissatisfied patient. With both eyes open, vision is effectively seamless across all distances from day one.
From a surgical standpoint, the Galaxy lens is easy to handle intraoperatively, and its preloaded injector design reduces the likelihood of complications during implantation.
I wanted to share these insights because interest in this specific lens is growing rapidly. Overall, I am very satisfied with its performance. However, while bilateral Galaxy implantation provides excellent near and intermediate results, it may fall slightly short for distance vision. For me, combining technologies—specifically the EMV in the dominant eye and the Galaxy in the non-dominant—is the optimal strategy with current technology.
My honest opinion - AngryEyeSurgeon
Comments