Long follow-up of lens shows no loss of accommodative ability

ROME — Five years of follow-up with the accommodating Synchrony Dual Optic IOL show maintenance of the accomodative ability and no posterior capsule opacification. Several surgeons here spoke positively about this lens at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons winter meeting.

Ivan Ossma-Gomez, of Cali, Colombia, defined the key steps of surgery, such as a well-centered rhexis, the thorough polishing of the capsule with the irrigation and aspiration handpiece, and the careful removal of viscoelastic around and in between the two lens optics.

"Detail are very important. I have so far implanted more than 350 Synchrony lenses with very good clinical outcomes and a high degree of spectacle independence," he said.

Gerd Auffarth, MD, of Heidelberg, Germany, said that the dual optic concept of this lens is more realistic than the single optic system of previous accommodating IOLs.

"The two optics that move away from one another for near vision and come closer for distance vision can cover a distance that could not be achieved by a single moving lens," he said.

Objective accommodation testing using dynamic stimulation aberrometry showed that the lens maintains 1 D of accommodation at 5 years, which was not found in control groups with traditional monofocal lenses.

At 5 years functional results are good at both distance and near.

No posterior capsule opacification problems have been reported, despite the large number of implantations performed worldwide.