Crystalens currently is the only accommodating IOL approved by the FDA for use in cataract surgery performed in the United States. The lens is designed to restore vision at all distances after cataract removal, including near vision lost to age-related presbyopia.

Joining the celebration will be Broadway, film and television actress Florence Henderson. Best known for her role as Carol Brady in the iconic television series “The Brady Bunch,” Ms. Henderson will be at the Bausch & Lomb booth at the ASCRS meeting on Sunday, April 11 at 1 p.m. to discuss her experience as a Crystalens patient.

“I’m very pleased to have experienced such a dramatic improvement in my vision since my Crystalens surgery,” she said in a press release issued today by Bausch & Lomb.

During the Crystalens 10-year anniversary celebration, Bausch & Lomb also will honor 12 cataract surgeons who have implanted more than 1,000 Crystalens accommodating IOLs.

The surgeons presented their findings at the 2010 winter meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, held February 12-14 in Budapest, Hungary.

Mark Tomalla, MD, of Duisburg, Germany, said he has implanted the Crystalens HD accommodating IOL in a series of 48 patients. At the time of his presentation, 17 of these patients had been monitored for a period of 6 months after surgery.

At the 6-month follow-up visit:

• All patients could see clearly in the distance and at arm’s length without glasses.
• 71 percent reported they did not need reading glasses.
• The remaining 29 percent said they needed reading glasses only occasionally.

Patient satisfaction with the Crystalens HD accommodating IOL was “well above the average,” according to Dr. Tomalla.

Angel Lopez-Castro, MD, (Madrid, Spain) reported similar results for 42 of his patients receiving the Crystalens HD IOL. He said 80 percent of these patients exhibited the equivalent of 20/25 or better reading vision without glasses, and all patients had distance vision of 20/20 or better without glasses.

Kristien Vanhoucke, MD, of Mol, Belgium, reported implanting the Crystalens HD in eyes of 26 patients. At 6 months after surgery, 90 percent of these patients reported having very good vision at all distances and not needing glasses for any reason.

Crystalens HD is the fourth-generation accommodating IOL produced by Bausch & Lomb (Rochester, NY). The company received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2008 to market Crystalens HD in the United States.

The FDA approved the first Crystalens accommodating IOL in November 2003. In January 2010, Bausch & Lomb announced the introduction of Crystalens AO, its latest accommodating IOL that is designed to reduce higher-order aberrations.

At present, Crystalens is the only brand of accommodating IOL approved by the FDA for use in refractive cataract surgery in the United States.

SOURCE:  Multiple European clinics report promising accommodating IOL visual outcomes. Ocular Surgery News. Published online February 15, 2010.

Because of the higher visual expectations of today’s cataracts patients, eye surgeons must accept that cataract surgery has become refractive surgery, says Eric D. Donnenfeld, MD, a cataract and refractive surgeon in private practice at Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island (Rockville Centre, NY).

In a recent issue of EyeWorld, Dr. Donnenfeld offered these observations, comments and suggestions to other eye surgeons:

• For patients who want to avoid being dependent on reading glasses after cataract surgery, current options include: 1) monovision with monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs), 2) accommodating IOLs, and 3) multifocal IOLs.
• Monovision provides good results for many patients, but it can reduce depth perception and increase glare and halos at night.
• Today’s accommodative IOLs generally provide good distance vision, but may not deliver enough near vision to give patients the amount of freedom from reading glasses they desire.
• Dr. Donnenfeld’s lens of choice for cataract surgery that reduces the need for reading glasses is an aspheric multifocal IOL. He feels multifocal IOLs provide the best range of near vision while also offering good distance vision.
• In clinical trials of the Tecnis Multifocal IOL (Abbott Medical Optics, Santa Ana, Calif.), 93 percent of patients achieved uncorrected distance vision of 20/25 or better and uncorrected near vision of 20/32 or better, and most patients reported spectacle independence for most daily tasks.
• Dr. Donnenfeld says surgeons should ask patients about their vocation, hobbies and daily visual demands, and assess their tolerance for glare and halos before recommending a specific presbyopia-correcting IOL for cataract surgery.
• In the Technis Multifocal IOL clinical trial, only a small percentage of patients noticed glare and halo after surgery.

Dr. Donnenfeld also said today’s presbyopia correction IOLs are far superior to earlier versions of accommodating IOLs and multifocal IOLs that were available even two years ago. He encouraged cataract surgeons to embrace new refractive cataract surgery technologies and techniques to deliver the “wow” factor patients are looking for after surgery.

SOURCE:  Cataract patients: refractive goals. EyeWorld. May 2009. (Supplement: Premium Clinical Options for Cataract and Refractive Surgery, sponsored by Abbott Medical Optics.)