Good results seen with IC-8 Apthera IOL in eyes with complex corneas
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VIENNA — The IC-8 Apthera IOL provides good uncorrected vision in eyes with complex corneas, allowing for a high degree of spectacle independence, according to a study.
Multifocal IOLs are not suitable for all patients, particularly for those who have corneas with complex aberrations due to previous refractive surgery, keratoconus or corneal scars, Jodhbir Mehta, MBBS, PhD, said at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting.
If these patients seek spectacle independence, the IC-8 Apthera IOL (Bausch + Lomb), which extends the range of vision based on the principle of pinhole optics, is a more suitable option.
“It gives you a continuous depth of focus, it is tolerant to astigmatism, and more importantly, it is resistant to higher-order aberrations. And, of course, it has been recently FDA approved,” Mehta said.
In a study, the results of the IC-8 Apthera IOL used in 21 patients with complex corneas were evaluated, looking at monocular and binocular unaided visual acuity, defocus curves and contrast sensitivity. A questionnaire looked at visual symptoms and driving performance.
Mehta described five cases of patients with complex, highly aberrated corneas following myopic LASIK, hyperopic LASIK, corneal scar, previous RK and previous IntraCor, respectively. In the dominant eye, these patients were implanted with a standard monofocal IOL, while the IC-8 was implanted in the nondominant fellow eye. Results were highly satisfactory in all cases, with good vision at all distances.
Overall, the results of the 21 patients in the study showed very good binocular vision at distance, intermediate and near.
The IC-8 eye achieved comparable visual acuity for intermediate and near, with 0.19 logMAR and 0.14 logMAR, respectively.
“Likewise, if you actually look at the distance vision in the IC-8 eye, even though we actually undercorrected it from –0.5 D of spherical equivalent, they get very good or better than expected distance vision. And we know that biometry can be particularly challenging in these complex corneas,” Mehta said.
Defocus curve testing yielded a depth of focus of 1.5 D monocularly and 2 D binocularly.
Contrast sensitivity, as expected, was lower than the fellow eye, but binocular levels were basically equivalent in mesopic conditions.