AcuFocus announced that the first patients have been commercially implanted with its IC-8 Apthera intraocular lens (IOL) via cataract surgery.
Tell me more about this IOL.
The IC-8 Apthera IOL is the first and currently only small aperture, non-toric extended-depth-of-focus (EDOF) IOL. Approved by the FDA in 2022, it mitigates the effects of presbyopia by filtering out peripheral defocused and aberrated light that degrades image quality with an embedded FilterRing (polyvinylidene fluoride carbon black) component. This allows central focused light to be delivered to the retina. (via)
What does a small aperture IOL look like?
Here is a picture.
What types of patients does it target?
The Apthera IOL is approved for patients who have been diagnosed with bilateral operable cataract with as much as 1.5 diopters of corneal astigmatism.
Who shouldn’t use the IOL?
Patients with a dilated pupil size of > 7.0 mm, a history of retinal disease, and who are predisposed to be diagnosed with retinal disease in the future.
How does it compare to other cataract treatments?
Compared to monofocal IOLs and other presbyopia-correcting lens designs, the Apthera IOL provides high quality distance vision as well as clear intermediate and near vision to reduce presbyopia symptoms with a low amount of astigmatism.
Any potential drawbacks?
Patients may experience visual disturbances after the device is implanted. Contrast eye sensitivity is also significantly reduced in comparison eyes implanted with a monofocal or monofocal toric IOL. As such, this lens should not be implanted bilaterally because bilateral implantation is expected to cause significant reduction in contrast sensitivity under all lighting conditions.
Additionally, patients with a predicted postop astigmatism between 1.0 D and 1.5 D may not receive as large of an amount of improvement in their intermediate vision when compared to patients with lower amounts of astigmatism. (via)
How is a refraction different for a patient with this IOL?
These educational videos can help.
Anything else?
As AcuFocus CEO and President Al Waterhouse stated, the Aphera IOL represents several firsts: FDA approval as the first small aperture IOL; first lens indicated for implantation with a monofocal or monofocal toric IOL in the fellow eye; first EDOF lens indicated for monovision; and the first non-toric IOL indicated for cataract patients with low amounts of corneal astigmatism. (via)
When will this be available nationwide?
AcuFocus reports that a full US launch will take place during Q2 of 2023.