Dr. Evangelista of the Kleiman Evangelista Eye Center helps change 100 lives in 100 minutes

April 11, 2008 - ARLINGTON, TEXAS – In just 100 minutes on April 9, the lives of 100 low-income people in cities and towns across the country will be changed forever as their failing eyesight goes from murky to new-found clarity at all distances with crystalens® cataract-lens implants … free of charge.

Dr. Anthony W. Evangelista of the Kleiman Evangelista Eye Center in Arlington will be among a select group of ophthalmologists nationwide to participate in this unique program – Changing 100 Lives in 100 Minutes – which not only can dramatically improve patients’ eyesight, but also will mean many of them may never need eyeglasses again.

Bausch & Lomb, which manufactures the innovative crystalens intraocular lens for cataracts, will donate 100 pairs of these lenses – generally not covered by private insurance or Medicare. Then, from coast to coast, 100 participating ophthalmologists … including Evangelista … will perform crystalens implantation surgeries simultaneously during the next hour and 40 minutes … at no additional charge.

This national effort will begin promptly at 7:30 a.m. Eastern daylight time with the implantation of the 100,000th crystalens. Crystalens is the only intraocular lens that uses eye muscles to focus in much the same way as the eye’s natural lens, and is designed to provide clear vision at all distances … near, intermediate and far.

The 100,000th crystalens surgery will be performed by Dr. James P. Gills, founder of St. Luke’s Cataract & Laser Institute in Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Evangelista joined Kleiman Evangelista Eye Center in 1999. Board-certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and the National Board of Medical Examiners, he specializes in LASIK; crystalens implantation; no-needle, no-stitch, no-patch cataract surgery; glaucoma and corneal surgery; and pediatric and adult strabismus surgery. Evangelista has performed more than 10,000 cataract surgeries since he began practicing in 1996.

A University of Minnesota graduate, Evangelista earned his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. He completed his internship at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, and his ophthalmic residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Kleiman Evangelista Eye Center is located at 3025 Matlock Road.

The crystalens design is based on the human eye and uses the eye muscle to focus on objects at all distances. It is the only lens to use the eye’s natural focusing ability and is the first and only such lens to receive FDA approval. Few crystalens patients have experienced problems with night vision, halos or glare.

“Typically, crystalens lenses are available only as an elective upgrade to conventional lenses paid for by government programs or private insurance,” says Evangelista. “The crystalens has been an extraordinary success, and we wanted to help share this wonderful technology with people who usually couldn’t afford it.”

Bausch & Lomb is a multi-billion-dollar eye-health company headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., where it was founded in 1853. It employs 13,000 people worldwide and distributes products in more than 100 countries. The company’s primary product categories are contact lenses, lens care, pharmaceuticals, as well as products for cataract, vitreoretinal and refractive surgeries.

For more details about the crystalens Changing 100 Lives in 100 Minutes program or Bausch & Lomb, visit www.crystalens.com

www.lasiksurgery.com - Kleiman Evangelista Eye Center