Alcon AcrySof® IQ Toric IOL Approved for U.S. Patients with Cataracts and Astigmatism
March 4, 2009
Alcon, Inc. (NYSE: ACL)announced yesterday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its aspheric AcrySof® IQ Toric intraocular lens (IOL). Alcon’s release states that the new lens offers an enhanced aspheric optic that improves image quality and increases contrast sensitivity in cataract surgery patients with astigmatism. Alcon further states the innovative lens design offers these patients the best opportunity for quality distance vision without glasses.
Edward Holland, M.D., director of cornea at the Cincinnati Eye Institute and professor of ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati, was quoted in the release as stating that “with the addition of asphericity to the AcrySof® Toric lens . . . I can now reduce spherical aberration, enhance image quality and improve functional vision for my cataract patients. . . at the same time, the thinner lens profile is ideally suited for micro-coaxial surgical techniques, which surgeons use to reduce incision size in cataract surgery.”
Read the full release on iStockAnalyst.com.
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6 Responses to “Alcon AcrySof® IQ Toric IOL Approved for U.S. Patients with Cataracts and Astigmatism”
I have a .50 and .75 astigmatism and one doctor is suggesting a Toric for my cataract surgery. I do still have up close vision. The other says get multi lense and the other says standard Toric. What are your thoughts? How many eye surgeons do you know that would have a multi lense put in when it compromises optics? Are the multi worth the risk of losing optics for a person of 50 years of age that can still see up close?
this implant uses the same platform as the traditional acrysof lens, the most common implant used. at the very worst, if the implant is not implanted in the right position, the worse thing that can happen is that the patient still needs to wear glasses for the astigmatism- there are no other risks. fortunately, that is very uncommon, and i think 98% of patients have been extremely satisfied. anybody with 1.00 diopter or more should get this lens- it is worth every penny ( i think most surgeons charge $1000).
Have there been complaints from patients w/ this new toric IOL. If so, what kinds of things? Would you recommend for a patient needing 1 and 1.5 D correction? thx.
this lens addresses astigmatism, not presbyopia. so yes, reading glasses still needed. the alcon restor lens reduces need for reading glasses, but does not address astigmatism- so if you have astigmatism, you may not be good candidate, or, you will need extra procedure like lasik or lri (incisions performed during cataract surgery that reduce astigmatism- but lri’s can be unpredictable).
are reading glasses required after the implant of this lense
acrysof toric is a great lens. i hope they expand the cylinder powers so that we can finally put lri’s to rest.
