Moisture-Absorbent Flange for Stable Contact Lens Positioning
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing contact lenses used in vitreoretinal surgery tend to slide on the eye's surface due to their floating on a thin fluid layer, requiring constant adjustment by an experienced assistant or reliance on vacuum or capillary suction for stabilization.
Innovation Solution
A contact lens design featuring a moisture-absorbent flange around its periphery, which is soaked with a sterile fluid to create sufficient weight and adhesion for stable positioning on the eye, eliminating the need for vacuum attachment or capillary suction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a contact lens is placed on the eyeball for vitreoretinal surgery, then the lens can be used to focus the microscope onto the retina and other areas in the back of the eyeball, but the lens floats on a thin layer of fluid and tends to slide about the surface of the eye
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of the flange material from dry to saturated by absorbing surgical fluid. The flange is made of a material that transitions from an unstable floating state to a stable adherent state through parameter change (fluid absorption), eliminating the need for vacuum or capillary suction while maintaining lens position stability during surgery
Solution Approach 2:
The flange performs self-stabilization by automatically absorbing surgical fluid and adhering to the eye surface without requiring external assistance. The moisture-absorbent material naturally saturates with the surgical fluid, creating adhesion that holds the lens in place without needing vacuum attachments, capillary suction, or manual adjustment by assistants
2Stability of the object's composition
If vacuum attachment is used to hold the lens in position, then the lens can be stabilized, but the device complexity increases and requires additional components and specialized assistance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the vacuum attachment system from the lens design. By removing the complex vacuum components and relying instead on the inherent moisture-absorbent properties of the flange material, the device complexity is reduced while maintaining lens stability through a simpler, self-contained mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The flange performs self-stabilization by automatically absorbing surgical fluid and adhering to the eye surface without requiring external assistance. The moisture-absorbent material naturally saturates with the surgical fluid, creating adhesion that holds the lens in place without needing vacuum attachments, capillary suction, or manual adjustment by assistants
3Stability of the object's composition
If capillary suction is used to hold the lens in position, then the lens can be stabilized, but the device complexity increases and requires specialized assistance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the capillary suction system from the lens design. By removing the complex capillary components and relying instead on the inherent moisture-absorbent properties of the flange material, the device complexity is reduced while maintaining lens stability through a simpler, self-contained mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The flange performs self-stabilization by automatically absorbing surgical fluid and adhering to the eye surface without requiring external assistance. The moisture-absorbent material naturally saturates with the surgical fluid, creating adhesion that holds the lens in place without needing vacuum attachments, capillary suction, or manual adjustment by assistants
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The weighted flange design effectively maintains the lens in a fixed position during surgery, allowing for stable viewing of the posterior eye structures without the need for continuous adjustment or suction, enhancing surgical precision and reducing the requirement for specialized assistance.
Implementation Method 1
The flange is formed with a curvature that is less than the radius of curvature of the average sclera so that it can be secured to a range of different size eyes. In use, this lens device is pressed down into full contact with the eye so that the lens becomes fixed in place by capillary action.
Data Source
AI summary
A contact lens assembly has a central lens and a circumscribing flange, the lens having an eye contact surface shaped generally to a radius of curvature of a cornea of an eye. The flange comprises a sterile sponge-like liquid absorbent flexible material having a central aperture for fitting snugly about an outer circumference of the lens and extending radially outward therefrom. The flange may include an inner attachment ring for attachment to the outer circumference of the central contact lens.