Symfony OptiBlue offers option for larger pool of presbyopic patients
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The new Tecnis Symfony OptiBlue extended depth of focus IOL from Johnson & Johnson Vision provides improved quality of vision and minimizes visual disturbances.
It differs from the legacy Symfony in two ways, Douglas D. Koch, MD, told Healio/OSN.
“It has a high-resolution lathing that creates a much smoother surface, both on the refractive portion of the lens and on the diffractive ridges. As a result, the lens generates much less light scatter and consequently less glare,” he said.
The second unique feature is the violet light filter.
“As we are transitioning more and more to LED technology, the color temperature of ambient lighting is shifting from warmer color temperatures to cooler temperatures with a much higher percentage of violet light. As a result, the increased violet light present in our environment contributes little or nothing to quality or sharpness of vision but definitely adds to patient discomfort in glare symptomatology,” Koch said.
These add-on elements are built on the Tecnis material, which has a high Abbe number and, as a result, minimizes chromatic aberration.
Koch has implanted this lens in about 40 patients, and they report good functional vision at all distances, excellent at far and intermediate, with most noting mild or no glare. In one patient, he recently exchanged the legacy Symfony for a Symfony OptiBlue.
“She wanted sharp distance vision to drive at night, insisted on excellent intermediate to see her cell phone and basically wanted to function in her day-to-day life without using glasses except for reading small print. The optical profile of the Symfony fitted that perfectly, and that’s why I implanted it originally, but she was immediately disturbed by the nighttime glare. So, I decided to exchange the lens, and she is ecstatic about the improved quality of vision and reduced glare with the new model,” he said.
The legacy Symfony provides good vision, but there are some patients who are unhappy because of the excessive starburst and glare.
“With the OptiBlue, I have not had a single patient who wanted the lens to be removed. Every patient is told that there will be some glare and starburst. A couple of patients decided not to have it implanted in the other eye. One went with a Synergy for greater near vision and the other one went for an Eyhance, but by and large, the others are very happy and wanted the same lens in their fellow eye,” Koch said.
As with every lens, it is important to have a conversation with patients to understand what their needs and habits are and what compromise they are willing to accept.
“I use the OptiBlue IOL in patients whose goal is primarily great distance and great intermediate vision and who are willing to use reading glasses. I also use it in patients who may have very minimal forms of other ocular pathology, such as very early glaucoma or a few retinal drusen that are unlikely to evolve to full-blown macular degeneration. In those patients, the Symfony OptiBlue can provide quality of vision and safety at the same time,” Koch said.
He also feels he can safely implant it in post-LASIK patients, a challenging group when it is time for cataract surgery.
“It has a broader landing zone and lower halos and glare scores, so I’ve had good success in that population as well,” he said.
For more information:
Douglas D. Koch, MD, can be reached at Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, 6565 Fannin, NC205, Houston, TX 77030; email: dkoch@bcm.edu.
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