Scleral implants may improve near visual acuity in patients with presbyopia

HONOLULU — A subset of patients treated for presbyopia with scleral implants experienced a clinically significant improvement in near visual acuity, according to a poster presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting here.

“Preliminary data indicates that VisAbility micro-insert system (Refocus Group) may significantly improve near vision,” Frank A. Bucci Jr., MD, wrote in the poster.

Researchers evaluated visual acuity of a subsample of 20 patients from two centers in a multicenter FDA trial who received scleral implants and were followed for 24 months.

All 20 primary eyes achieved distance corrected near visual acuity of 20/40 or better at 40 cm at the final follow-up. Additionally, 92.5% of the primary eyes achieved an improvement of at least 10 ETDRS letters of near visual acuity, Bucci wrote in the poster.

For uncorrected near visual acuity, 100% of eyes achieved 20/32 or better and 90% achieved 20/25 or better. – by Robert Linnehan

Reference:

Bucci FA. Scleral implants improved near visual acuity: A subsample of patients treated for presbyopia. Presented at: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting; April 28-May 3, 2018; Honolulu.

Disclosure: Bucci reports he is a clinical investigator in the VisAbility trial.