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IOL uses wavefront modifications to help patients with early-stage maculopathies

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VIENNA — A newly designed IOL, using longitudinal and transverse asphericity to increase breadth of focus, shows benefits in patients with cataract and macular disease at the early stages.

“The EyeMax lens (LEH Pharma) is not a magnifying lens, nor a prism,” Federico Badalà, MD, said at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting. “It introduces a new concept in the field of AMD-designed IOLs, using for the first time both longitudinal and transversal asphericity to increase breadth of focus.”

The lens is engineered to project well-focused images up to 10° around the central macula and magnifies the picture by 1.2 times. Hyperopia is corrected by external spectacles, targeting for a postoperative refraction of +2 D to +3 D.

Cataract surgery with EyeMax implantation was performed in 96 eyes of patients with age-related macular degeneration or retinal dystrophies, including retinitis pigmentosa, Best disease and Stargardt disease. The average visual acuity gain was 14 ETDRS letters.

“Smaller macular lesions with visual acuity better than 20/200 had a greater improvement, and near acuity benefited more than distance vision from this implant. In many of the patients it was a life-changing procedure,” Badalà said.

The lens can be implanted monocularly, but binocular implantation had even better results due to easier and faster neuroadaptation. Patients with the lens in both eyes were able to read better.

Cataract removal does have a role in the visual improvement of these patients. However, Badalà noted that the average letter gain in patients with AMD having cataract surgery is between 6.5 and 7.5 letters in the literature.

“Letter gain in our series was almost double that,” he said.

A pseudophakic add-on version of the lens will be commercially launched in the near future. – by Michela Cimberle

Reference:

Badalà F et al. EyeMax: a new IOL for patients with cataract and macular disease. Presented at: European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting; Sept. 22-26, 2018; Vienna.

Disclosure: Badalà reports no relevant financial disclosures.