Presbia unveils implantable micro-lens

Barcelona, Spain

-Presbia Coöperatief U.A. of Amsterdam unveiled an implantable micro-lens treatment (Flexivue System) for presbyopia at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons annual meeting. Clinical trials of the lens are expected to get under way in several European countries in the fourth quarter of this year.

The hydrophilic polymer lens, 3 mm in diameter and less than 20 µm in edge thickness, is placed within the corneal stroma via surgery using standard lasers used in LASIK. With a special device, the surgeon inserts the lens into a pocket created in the cornea. The pocket then seals itself, holding the lens in place in the center of the pupil. The lens can stay in place permanently or can be removed if, for example, the patient’s presbyopia advances and a stronger prescription is required.

The procedure typically takes less than 10 minutes, is performed on the non-dominant eye, and does not require anesthesia, according to the company. A video of the procedure is available at

www.presbia.com/demo

.

Trials of the lens will be overseen by Ioannis Pallikaris, MD, PhD, rector and director of the Institute of Vision and Optics of the University of Crete, Greece. He leads the company’s medical advisory board and also will train surgeons in the procedure at his institute.“[The lens] offers a unique technology that provides the patient with correction for nearsightedness while allowing the dominant eye to continue to provide effective distance vision,” said Dr. Pallikaris. “Most importantly, this is a very simple and reversible procedure. Long-time research and follow-up has proven the highest level of bio-compatibility of this miniature intracorneal lens.”

The lens and related medical procedures are not available in the United States and have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA.