IOL Injector Tip Segmentation for Small Incision Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current IOL inserter devices face challenges in delivering intraocular lenses (IOLs) through small incisions without damaging them, and ensuring precise and controlled expulsion to prevent trauma to surrounding tissues, as they often apply excessive compressive forces and may result in uncontrolled release or incorrect orientation.
Innovation Solution
The IOL injector device features a compressor drawer and a plunger with a telescoping mechanism, along with a tip design comprising four segments with varying diameters and slots that reduce hoop strength, allowing for controlled compression and anchoring of the IOL during delivery, ensuring predictable and stable insertion through incisions as small as 2.4 mm.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the IOL is compressed into a smaller cross-section to pass through small incisions, then the incision size is reduced, but the IOL may be damaged due to excessive compressive forces
Solution Approach 1:
The tip is divided into four segments with different diameters (first segment: larger diameter for loading, second segment: intermediate diameter, third segment: smaller diameter, fourth segment: tip opening). This segmentation allows progressive compression of the IOL as it moves through each segment, distributing the compressive force over multiple stages rather than applying excessive force at a single point, thereby reducing the risk of IOL damage while achieving small incision passage.
Solution Approach 2:
Different segments of the tip have different diameters and compression characteristics. The first segment provides initial compression, the second segment maintains intermediate compression, the third segment provides further compression, and the fourth segment delivers the fully compressed IOL. This local variation in geometry allows tailored compression at each stage, minimizing overall damage to the IOL while achieving the required small cross-section for incision passage.
2Productivity
If the plunger applies force to push the IOL through the lumen, then the IOL is delivered through the incision, but the IOL may be expelled too quickly or in wrong orientation causing trauma
Solution Approach 1:
The four-segment tip design creates progressive resistance zones that control IOL movement. As the plunger pushes the IOL through each segment, the decreasing diameter provides controlled resistance that regulates the expulsion speed. This segmentation ensures the IOL is delivered at a controlled rate rather than being ejected too quickly, preventing trauma to surrounding tissues.
Solution Approach 2:
The geometry of the four segments provides passive feedback control on IOL movement. The varying diameters create natural resistance that adjusts to the IOL's passage, providing inherent control over expulsion speed and orientation without requiring active feedback mechanisms. This ensures predictable and controlled delivery.
3Length of moving object
If the lumen diameter is reduced to sub 3 mm for smaller incisions, then post-surgical complications are reduced, but the IOL may become stuck or damaged during passage
Solution Approach 1:
The lumen is segmented into four sections with progressively decreasing diameters. The first segment has a larger diameter for initial IOL loading, the second segment provides intermediate diameter for controlled compression, the third segment has smaller diameter for further compression, and the fourth segment provides the final sub-3mm opening. This segmentation allows the IOL to gradually adapt to smaller diameters, preventing sudden sticking or damage that would occur with a single abrupt diameter reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
Each segment of the lumen has a specific diameter optimized for its function. The varying local geometry provides appropriate clearance and compression at each stage of IOL passage, ensuring reliable delivery through the small overall lumen diameter without causing damage or sticking.
4Ease of operation
If the tip is inserted deeply to ensure stable IOL delivery, then delivery control is improved, but the incision size must be larger
Solution Approach 1:
The four-segment tip allows the surgeon to insert only the necessary portion of the tip through the small incision. The progressive diameter reduction means that even with shallow insertion, the IOL experiences controlled compression through all four segments as it is pushed by the plunger. This eliminates the need for deep insertion that would require larger incisions, while maintaining full delivery control.
Solution Approach 2:
The varying diameter geometry creates different functional zones along the tip length. The compression and control functions are distributed across all four segments rather than requiring deep insertion of a uniform-diameter tip. This allows effective IOL delivery control with minimal insertion depth, enabling small incision surgery.
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
This design minimizes IOL damage and ensures precise, controlled delivery of the lens through small incisions, maintaining tip stability and preventing decentering or ejection issues, allowing for safe and effective insertion with reduced post-surgical complications.
Implementation Method 1
The lumen typically is dimensioned with a narrowing toward the open tip thereof in order to further compress the IOL as it is advanced through the lumen
Implementation Method 2
The slots reduce the hoop (radial) strength of the tip along the third and fourth segments
Data Source
AI summary
A device for injecting an intraocular lens (IOL) into an eye, the device having an injector body including a lumen and an open tip wherethrough the IOL is expressed from the device. An IOL loading bay is located in the passageway wherein the IOL is positioned and compressed. The injector tip is dimensioned to allow the surgeon to choose an insertion depth between first, second and third transition points defined on the tip, the first and second transition points having a larger diameter than the third transition point which is located closer to the open tend of the tip. If the surgeon wishes to insert through a very small incision size (e.g., about 2.4 mm), the surgeon will insert the tip only up to the third transition point. The injector is stable during delivery of the IOL therethrough due to a spreading of the tip within the eye which effectively anchors the tip during IOL delivery.