DENVER -- Many people who have extremely poor eyesight do not qualify for Lasik vision correction so they must rely on glasses or contacts. But now there is a new option.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first implantable lens for nearsightedness. That option could help many people, including Tina Janssen. For her and many others, life without contacts or glasses is a blur.

Glasses can be a burden and for those who rely on contacts, their everyday routine is a burden too. Every day that they wear contacts, they wash their hands, get out the solution and the contact case and delicately place the contacts into their eye.

"If I lose a contact or my glasses at any time, I cannot see. I cannot function," said Janssen.

Lasik is not an option for Janssen so she's decided to try a new procedure.

"The Varisyse phakic IOL is like an implantable contact lens," said Dr. Kevin Cuevas, who performs this painless lens implant surgery at Healthsouth Denver West Surgery Center in Golden. Patients undergo slight sedation.

"The lens goes through a very small incision on the top of the cornea and is placed in front of the pupil. It's clipped to the iris in two different positions to hold it into place," Cuevas said.

It's a procedure that Cuevas believes is safer than Lasik.

"The procedure is such that the cornea is left untouched. Whereas Lasik and surface ablation procedures involve removing cornea tissue," Cuevas said.

The lens can be implanted in just 10 minutes.

"Most patients notice an immediate change in their vision," Cuevas said.

After a few weeks of healing, Janssen is seeing better than ever before.

"Before I would sit here and not even see the big E. I couldn't see anything at all," Janssen said. "I can wake up at night and see. Wake up in the morning and see. I don't have to reach for glasses or contacts. It's incredible!"

One thing many patients like about this vision correction surgery is that is it completely reversible. Doctors can remove the lens if needed. However, as with any eye surgery, there are risks including bleeding, infection and vision loss but Cuevas said those outcomes are extremely rare.

The procedure costs about $3,500 per eye.

For more information on the Verisyse lens, log onto www.cuevasmd.com or call (303) 384-3700.