The Implantable Contact Lens - Finally Available for Even the Most Severely Nearsighted

WEST HILLS, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/

Jonathan Davidorf, MD has Astounding Results With Implantable Contact Lens

WEST HILLS, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- For anyone considering vision correction, the plethora of procedures available is mind boggling and confusing! And until now, those people who were severely nearsighted did not

Have much of an option. While LASIK surgery has continued to evolve over the last decade and is an excellent option for the mild to moderately visually impaired patient, it is not ideal for those requiring more drastic adjustment.

The good news is that the FDA has just approved the revolutionary STAAR Collamer Implantable Contact Lens (ICL) -- and, unlike its LASIK counterparts, this vision correction option is an ideal choice for the more seriously vision impaired.

The STAAR Collamer lens is a type of intraocular lens (IOL), known as a Phakic IOL It differs from the traditional IOLs used during cataract surgery, in that the eye's natural lens remains completely undisturbed. The ICL is often a good option for people who are not good candidates for traditional LASIK. While the ICL is normally reserved for people with over 10 diopters of nearsightedness or 4 diopters of farsightedness, patients with less severe prescriptions may be considered for the ICL if their cornea is too thin to be treated with LASIK.

"The STAAR lens is leaps and bounds ahead of previous intraocular lenses," says Jonathan Davidorf, MD, one of the first surgeons in North America to use the ICL. "When combined with LASIK -- a procedure known as Bioptics -- the results are astounding." Dr. Davidorf wrote the paper on Bioptics and is the first U.S. surgeon to have performed this two-stage procedure. He has treated patients with over 30 diopters of nearsightedness with the ICL and LASIK, three times the maximum amount of LASIK alone.

The STAAR Collamer ICL contains collagen copolymer making the lens more flexible allowing physicians to implant the lens through a smaller incision (smaller than Verisyse, another FDA approved phakic IOL, but the same size as the IOLs used during cataract surgery.) The smaller incision makes for a less invasive procedure with a generally quicker recovery. The STAAR ICL is placed in front of the natural lens, which, unlike cataract surgery, is not removed.

It's the first lens to be approved to correct both nearsightedness and astigmatism in a single procedure without the removal or destruction of corneal tissue.