New loading forceps for multifocal IOL

Session Details

Session Title: Cataract Surgery Equipment/Instrumentation/Surgical Devices

Session Date/Time: Monday 09/10/2017 | 16:30-18:00

Paper Time: 17:43

Venue: Room 4.4

First Author: : T.Akahoshi JAPAN

Co Author(s): :                        

Abstract Details

Purpose:

The multifocal IOL, especially the diffractive type, has an extremely fine optical construction to focus the multiple images on the retina. If this construction is damaged during the surgery, the visual prognosis will be influenced. It can be happened mostly while loading the IOL into the cartridge by grasping the IOL optic tightly with a forceps. Another cause is the mechanical stress of the IOL in the cartridge due to the improper setting. The purpose of this study is to develop a device which can set the IOL into the cartridge properly without touching the center of the optic.

Setting:

The forceps was tested to set the IOL into the cartridge during the cataract surgery at Nihonbashi Cataract Clinic, Akihabara Eye Clinic and Mitsui Memorial Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.

Methods:

To avoid touching the delicate central optical zone of the multifocal IOL while setting into the cartridge, a new loading forceps was designed and tested. The forceps blades have short semicircular jaws at their tips to grasp the IOL optic’s edge circumferentially. The jaws are mirror polished and slightly curved so that the IOL is curled downwards when grasped. The forceps handle is attached to a mirror polished rod which has a step at its end to manipulate and introduce the IOL deep into the cartridge.

Results:

Without touching the central part of the optic, the IOL could be picked up from the container. As the IOL was automatically curled downwards due to the special jaw design, it could be easily set into the Monarch D cartridge in an appropriate manner so that the plunger pushed the IOL properly. The rod was useful to manipulate the haptic and reposition the IOL in the cartridge. There were no marks of the forceps on the optical part of the IOL. It could be used not only for the multifocal but also for monofocal and toric IOLs as well.

Conclusions:

Nowadays preset IOL is in vogue, however implantation with a conventional metal injector is still necessary in case with an extremely tight implantation through a sub-2mm incision. In the conventional injector system, proper loading of the IOL into the cartridge was mandatory to avoid the damage of the IOL itself as well as the tissue damage caused by the jumping implantation. Especially in the multifocal IOL, the fine optical construction is so delicate that requires extremely gentle handling. This loading forceps is an ideal device for setting a multifocal IOL into the cartridge without damaging the optic.

Financial Disclosure:

NONE