Corneal inlay may be useful for presbyopes, surgeon says

Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, said corneal inlays may offer surgical treatment options for presbyopes.

NUREMBERG, Germany — Surgical techniques and advancing technology are helping intracorneal inlays gain acceptance as a treatment option for emmetropic presbyopes, said one keynote lecturer here. Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, delivered the Innovator’s Lecture here at the German Ophthalmic Surgeons meeting. Dr. Lindstrom discussed his work with a new “promising” intracorneal implant, which he said will help the almost 44 million emmetropic presbyopes in the United States.

Dr. Lindstrom presented early results on 57 eyes that had been implanted with the fenestrated Acufocus Intracorneal Inlay lens. Patients ranged in age from 45 to 60 years old, and baseline mean uncorrected distance visual acuity was 20/20. Near vision at baseline was J9.

At the 9-month follow-up, results showed distance vision remained 20/20, and near vision improved to J1.

“This is pretty impressive data,” he said.

Earlier work with fenestration technology proved unsuccessful in most conditions, Dr. Lindstrom said.

“But it might be useful for emmetropes,” he said.

The Acufocus lens is an ultra thin device, about 10 µm in diameter and is made of an opaque biocompatible polymer, Dr. Lindstrom said. It features 1.6 mm aperture pinholes “placed randomly in a way that the brain will ignore, thereby removing the risk of visual disturbance,” Dr. Lindstrom said.

After administering topical anesthesia for 5 to 10 minutes, the lens is implanted into an IntraLase pocket, he said. To date, 75 lenses have been implanted in the United States, and Dr. Lindstrom said that worldwide clinical trials are ongoing.

“The journey has been 25 years long,” he said. “But after 25 years, we are almost there.”