A toric IOL designed to correct preoperative astigmatism (as well as nearsightedness or farsightedness) in cataract surgery is safe and effective, according to a study published this month in Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.
In the study, an Acri.Comfort 646 TLC toric IOL (Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany) was implanted in 21 eyes of 12 patients. All patients had visually significant cataracts and moderate to high astigmatism.
All procedures took place at a single surgical center in Alicante, Spain, using a modern micro-incision cataract surgery (MICS) technique.
At 3 months after surgery, follow-up exams found that 91 percent of the patients’ astigmatism was corrected, and mean eyeglass prescription cylinder power decreased from -4.46 diopters (D) before surgery to -0.45 D after surgery.
Uncorrected distance visual acuity after surgery was 20/40 or better in 76.1 percent of eyes, and no complications occurred in any of the procedures.
The mean rotation of the toric IOLs was 1.75 degrees, and lens rotation was 10 degrees or less in all eyes. (Rotation of a toric IOL can cause a loss of best corrected visual acuity and inability to attain 20/20 vision due to induced irregular astigmatism.)
The researchers concluded that implantation of the Acri.Comfort 646 TLC toric IOL during micro-incision cataract surgery is a safe, precise and effective procedure to correct moderate to high astigmatism in cataract patients.
At this time, the Acri.Comfort toric IOL is not FDA-approved for use in the United States.
Tags: astigmatism, toric IOLs