ThinOptX lens placed in first U.S. patients

Santa Monica, CA-The first three U.S. cataract patients to receive the ThinOptX lens have achieved 20/20 uncorrected visual acuity 4 days after implantation.

The ultra-thin lens, which has been used in Europe for about 18 months, was inserted into one eye in each of three patients by Kenneth J. Hoffer, MD, at his St. Mary's Eye Center here.

Dr. Hoffer said the implantations went "beautifully" through 2.4-mm incisions. He is a clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of California at Los Angeles' Jules Stein Eye Institute and serves on the company's board of directors.

The lens unrolls when it reaches the warm aqueous, he said, and the self-sealing incisions healed quickly. The patients will be followed at regular intervals.

"I'm very happy. I'm ecstatic; and it went successfully," he said.

Dr. Hoffer said future trials will include about 20 investigators implanting 15 to 20 lenses each, with smaller incisions. In Europe, some 9,000 ThinOptX lenses have been implanted, many with incisions of 1.5 mm or smaller, he said.