Ophthalmic devices and methods with application specific integrated circuits

Abstract

Ophthalmic devices with dynamic electro-active elements offer variable optical power and/or depth of field that restore lost accommodation in individuals suffering from presbyopia or aphakia. An illustrative device senses physiological processes indicative of the accommodative response and actuates a dynamic electro-active element to provide the desired change in optical power and/or depth of field. The illustrative device includes two application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for processing the accommodative response and actuating the electro-active element: a high-voltage ASIC that steps up a low voltage from a power supply to a higher voltage suitable for actuating the electro-active element, and another ASIC that operates at low voltage (and therefore consumes little power) and controls the operating state of the high-voltage ASIC. Because each ASIC operates at the lowest possible voltage, the illustrative ophthalmic device dissipates less power than other ophthalmic devices.

Description

Cross references to related patent applications This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Application No. 61 / 356619, filed June 20, 2010, and entitled "ASIC Design and Function." The applications cited above are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Background technique There are two main conditions that affect an individual's ability to focus on near and intermediate distance objects: presbyopia and pseudophakia. Presbyopia is the loss of accommodation of the lens of the human eye that often occurs with aging. In individuals with presbyopia, this loss of accommodation results first in the inability to focus on close-distance objects and later on intermediate-distance objects. There are an estimated 90 to 100 million presbyopic individuals in the United States. Worldwide, there are an estimated 1.6 billion presbyopic persons. Standard tools for correcting presbyopia are reading magnification glasses, multifocal ophthalmic lenses and contact len...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, because monofocal IOLs have a fixed focal length, th

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