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Improved biocompatibility key to corneal inlay tech, speaker says
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NEW YORK — Improved biocompatibility designs for intracorneal inlays have become the answer to questions of safety regarding the implants and have paved the way for regulatory approval, according to a speaker here at Vision Expo East.
“Long-term stability of this technology had a lot to do with putting something inside the cornea and allowing it to be permeable to everything from glucose to water to oxygen,” William Tullo, OD, FAAO, said during a continuing education course. “If you put something that’s not permeable in there, you’re going to run into a lot of health problems in the cornea.”
For example, the Kamra inlay made by AcuFocus is an opaque circular micro-disc with a 1.6-mm aperture that weighs less than a crystal of table salt, he said. The disc is 3.8 mm in diameter, is 5 microns think and has 8,400 high-precision laser-created microperforations along the surface.
“These little holes are not to let light through,” Tullo said. “They’re actually to let nutrients through. The holes create permeability.”
Initially the design of the microperforations was a symmetrical pattern, but it was found that the symmetry caused an additional image to be created that caused halos at nighttime, he said.
“They found that by creating a pseudo-random pattern, there was no constructive interference and, therefore, no extra glare and halos,” Tullo said.
The Kamra inlay is currently approved in Canada and is expected to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within months, he said.
Disclosure: Dr. Tullo has no financial relationship with AcuFocus, and the company provided no honorarium nor travel support.