Deeper Tests For Intra-Ocular Lenses

But I am not covering the ESCRS for a tabloid newspaper – I am writing it up for the London Vision Clinic’s blog. And here is a whisper of news: Dr Dan thinks he has detected a slight shift in the mood of this year’s congress.

After ten years of the spotlight falling on intra-ocular multi-focal lenses he has sensed that they might be falling slightly out of favour in some quarters.

It appears that the results from this procedure of inserting artificial intra-ocular lenses alongside cataract surgery were examined in more depth at this year’s congress. There were several talks centred on the total quality of resulting vision – including measuring contrast sensitivity – following this surgery.

Dr Dan tells me that three years ago he was one of a few lone voices suggesting that visual quality (contrast sensitivity) is too often decreased by this procedure. Many intra-ocular lens patients were offered this treatment because of the perceived inability to treat them by a far less invasive operation on the cornea (LASIK) for their level of prescription, or for the fact that they were in the “ageing eyes” range, suffering presbyopia as well.  With specialised advanced techniques and technology, patients at the London Vision Clinic avoid the need for intra-ocular lens implantation. Dr. Dan has presented and published numerous studies showing no drop in contrast sensitivity using new methodology with the less invasive LASIK technique.

So Dr Dan has detected the beginning of a possible trend acknowledging the superior results gained by reshaping the cornea rather than the invasive technique of placing corrective lenses inside the eye for a much wider range of prescriptions and for the treatment of presbyopia or reading glasses.