Cataract & Refractive

The AcrySof angle-supported phakic refractive IOL (Alcon) continues to offer patients with high myopia stable and accurate refractive results with excellent visual acuity (VA), according to physicians speaking at the XXIV Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) in London last September.

Correction of very high myopia, i.e. above –9.00 D, remains a controversial topic and new designs of phakic IOLs have spurred great interest in the past five years. Presently, long-term results are becoming available and some interesting conclusions can be drawn, explained Matteo Piovella, MD, who reported his four-year results with one of these lenses at the XXIV Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons in London.

Epi-LASIK is safer for patients; it offers a lower risk of ectasia, fewer serious complications and better contrast sensitivity, according to Robert J. Mitchell.

Assessing povidone-iodine as method for preventing endophthalmitis.

The growing popularity of LASIK and other new innovations in refractive surgery is set to push sales in the global market from $1.3 billion in 2006 to an estimated $4.5 billion in 2009, according to market research firm Kalorama Information.

Non-infectious endophthalmitis is observed more frequently after injections of triamcinolone acetonide that contain preservatives (PTA) than after injections of preservative-free triamcinolone acetonide (PFTA), according to a study published online ahead of print in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

A study published in the March issue of Ophthalmology, has found that many young and middle-aged people of Chinese ancestry who are told they have glaucoma may actually be misdiagnosed. These patients who do not show disease progression may, in fact, have glaucoma-like symptoms caused by myopia.

Statins may have protective effects on the development of both cataract and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a report published in the April issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Patients undergoing LASIK procedures experience an increase in halos around lights in night vision conditions, according to a study published in the April issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Bausch & Lomb has received new technology intraocular lens (NTIOL) status for the regular and violet-filtering models of its SofPort Advanced Optics intraocular lenses (IOLs).

Relaxing incisions are a safe and effective method for reducing postoperative astigmatism and help improve visual acuity (VA), according to a study published in the March issue of the Journal of Refractive Surgery.

Intracameral phenylephrine is a straightforward and effective way to prevent the effects of floppy iris syndrome in patients taking systemic tamsulosin and undergoing cataract surgery.

The majority of patients with diabetic macular oedema (DME) who are given an injection of intravitreal triamcinolone (IVTA), will go on to develop cataract.

Anterior chamber intraocular lenses (IOLs) last twice as long as posterior chamber IOLs, before they need to be replaced.

It has not yet been demonstrated whether riboflavin penetrates more or less with or without de-epithelialization

The simplest approach to caring for the corneal surface, which can be responsible for 50% of graft failures, is the application of non-preserved ointment for at least the first month after surgery.

It is fast becoming a more standard procedure for the surgical treatment of irregular astigmatism

Recognising the harmful effects of various light rays on the retina, manufacturers have set about developing IOLs with various light filtering properties. Here, Boris Malyugin and Tatiana Fadeeva put the YellowFlex lens to the test.

Intracorneal rings (Intacs, Addition Technology) to correct keratoconus appear to yield better results when only one ring segment is implanted inferiorly rather than two segments implanted, one superiorly and one inferiorly, explains Joaquim N. Murta, MD, PhD.

A study reveals that the negative spherical aberration-inducing quality of the aspheric Tecnis Z9000 results in reduced ocular spherical aberration and improved mesopic contrast sensitivity.

Visual results reported by 60 kHz users in the US and Europe show that all-laser LASIK patients have better visual results in the first three months following surgery

Microincision cataract surgery (MICS) and phacoemulsification result in similar visual outcomes and early endothelial cell loss.

Senior doctors have accused the independent sector treatment centre (ISTC) scheme for NHS cataract services of being an expensive over-reaction to the need to increase the rate of cataract surgery in the UK.

The annual cumulative cell loss in eyes implanted with toric iris-fixated phakic intraocular lenses (IOLs) is two to three times greater than in normal eyes without surgery.

Phaco-trabeculotomy in addition to deep sclerectomy can offer significant reductions in intraocular pressure (IOP).

Manual small incision cataract surgery (MSCIS) with trypan blue staining of the anterior capsule is a safe and effective method of cataract extraction for patients with phacolytic glaucoma.

The ICARE anterior chamber phakic intraocular lens (IOL) with angle-supported haptics was designed five years ago by Corneal Laboratories (France) and attained the CE mark for demonstrating good efficacy and stability of refractive outcomes for the correction of high myopia. However, the safety profile of the lens was compromised by a number of anatomical limitations: a high vaulting that placed the optic too close to the endothelium and, because of the overall design of the lens, accurate sizing was difficult. In our clinic, in a series of 44 cases of conventional ICARE implantations, there were three reports of ovalisation and two of endothelial cell density decrease, which necessitated the removal of the lens.

Carl Zeiss Meditec has received FDA clearance to market the laser keratome applications of it's Visumax femtosecond laser system.

Removal of soft cataracts with Aqualase (Alcon), theoretically carries less risk to the posterior capsule than phacoemulsification.

Could phakic IOLs some day emerge as the dominant refractive surgical approach, particularly considering the past problems with early innovations? This is a difficult question to answer but one that has been debated over recent years.