Corneal onlays and methods of producing same

Abstract

Corneal onlays and corneal onlay production methods are described. The present corneal onlays include a lens body. An example of a corneal onlay includes a lens body that includes a corneal epithelium-contactable anterior surface and a Bowman's membrane-contactable posterior surface. The lens body has an optical power from about −10 diopters to about +10 diopters, an optic zone diameter from about 5 mm to about 11 mm, a base curve from about 5 mm to about 12 mm, a center thickness from about 10 micrometers to about 300 micrometers, and an edge thickness from about 0 micrometers to about 120 micrometers. Methods include forming the present corneal onlays from polymeric materials.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 661,400, filed Sep. 12, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 464,590, filed Apr. 21, 2003, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 464,004, filed Apr. 18, 2003, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 410,837, filed Sep. 13, 2002, the disclosures of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to devices and methods of improving a patient's vision. [0004] In particular, the invention relates to improving vision of a patient by placing a corrective ocular device between an epithelium of the patient's eye and the stroma of the cornea of the patient's eye. The corrective ocular device may be a lens, including a corneal onlay. The corrective ocular device may have a preformed epithelial cell layer secured over the device when place...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is about a corneal appliance or ocular device that can improve a patient's vision. The appliance has a lens and a layer of epithelial cells fixedly positioned over the lens. The epithelial cells can be derived from stem cells or from the patient's own corneal epithelium. The stem cells can be cultured in a dish and then transferred to the lens or the epithelium can be separated from the cornea and placed over the lens. The epithelial cells can be part of a layer of corneal epithelium or a preformed layer of epithelium. The invention addresses the problems associated with current corneal onlays and methods of correcting vision using epithelial cells."

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, many materials from which existing corneal onlays are manufactured from do not effectively promote epithelial cell growth and migration over the onlay.

The corneal onlays which require epithelial cells to migrate over the onlay surface fail to provide satisfactory coverage of the onlay with the epithelium.

For example, when epithelial cells are required to migrate over corneal onlays, the epithelial cells may not differentiate fully.

Moreover, as the epithelial cells migrate, there may be a tendency for the epithelium to grow under the corneal onlay placed over the eye and cause the onlay to be dislodged or encapsulated.

In addition, the recovery time for the epithelial cells to grow and migrate over the onlay is prohibitive and contributes to the undesirability of these approaches.

While WO 02 / 06883 discloses the use of cultured epithelial cells to create a layer of epithelium that may be used to cover a corneal onlay, it does not disclose using cultured stem cells to create a layer of epithelium.

Although complications did not appear to be too significant for correcting damaged ocular surfaces, it was noted that it may be problematic to use cultured stem cells with corrective lenses.

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