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Keynote speaker reviews new concepts in IOLs
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ROME — The ultimate goal of cataract surgery is to replace the human lens with an artificial lens that has the same properties, a surgeon said at the winter meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons here.
During the refractive cataract surgery keynote lecture, Ioannis Pallikaris, MD, reviewed a wide range of interesting products already available on the market and said one of the newest concepts is the thermoplastic, capsule-filling SmartIOL (Medennium). Before implantation, the lens is compressed to form a thin rod and stored under low temperature.
"Once in the eye, at body temperature, the lens expands again, taking the shape and size of a natural crystalline lens. As its material is very supple and elastic, it responds to accommodative forces and therefore restores the functions of a young natural lens," he explained.
Another new IOL design, which is currently under clinical research at Dr. Pallikaris' institute in Crete, Greece, is the WIOL-CF (GEL-MED International, A.M.I. Care), a polyfocal aspheric lens with accommodative capability. Additional features of this lens are the large-diameter, glare-free, full optic design, the high-quality surface and the continuous sharp edge to improve stability and posterior capsule opacification resistance. The six patients he implanted with this lens achieved mean 20/25 uncorrected vision for both distance and near.
IOLs with photochromic change properties, changing in a couple of seconds from clear white to a yellow blue-light filter, are also an interesting concept.
"They are like having sunglasses inside the eyes, an appealing option also for young people," Dr. Pallikaris said.