Masked Intraocular Implants With Annular Apertures for Depth of Focus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional intraocular lenses (IOLs) lack the ability to accommodate for focusing at different distances, requiring additional vision correction like reading glasses, and often involve invasive procedures due to their thickness, which can impair vision and prolong recovery.
Innovation Solution
Intraocular implants with a mask and aperture design that reduce thickness, incorporating a mask to block optical aberrations and allow light to pass through a central aperture, enabling improved depth of focus and allowing for smaller incisions during implantation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional intraocular lenses are used to restore optical power, then vision clarity is improved, but the lenses are thick and require invasive procedures that prolong recovery
Solution Approach 1:
The intraocular implant is divided into two functional segments: a thin optical lens portion for restoring optical power and a separate mask portion with aperture for blocking aberrations. This segmentation allows the lens to be made thinner while maintaining functionality, as the mask can be positioned independently to provide aberration correction without adding significant thickness to the optical path.
Solution Approach 2:
The mask is positioned at a different spatial location relative to the lens, creating a multi-dimensional arrangement where the mask can be placed in the anterior chamber while the lens remains in the posterior chamber. This dimensional separation allows the thin lens to provide optical power while the mask provides aberration correction, eliminating the need for thick conventional lenses.
2Reliability
If conventional intraocular lenses are implanted, then refractive error is corrected, but invasive procedures are required that impair vision and prolong recovery
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the implant into a thin lens and a separate mask component, the overall implant size is reduced, allowing implantation through smaller incisions. This reduces surgical trauma and accelerates recovery while maintaining the refractive correction function of the lens portion.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens portion is designed as a thin film or shell structure that can be folded or rolled for minimally invasive implantation through small corneal incisions. This thin-film design reduces surgical invasiveness and speeds up recovery while still providing the necessary optical power for refractive correction.
3Reliability
If a mask with aperture is added to increase depth of focus, then vision quality is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mask is integrated with the lens to form a single composite implant device, eliminating the need for separate surgical procedures to implant both components. This merging reduces the overall procedural complexity while providing the depth of focus enhancement through the aperture mask.
Solution Approach 2:
The combined implant structure serves multiple functions: the lens portion provides refractive correction while the mask portion increases depth of focus. This multi-functionality is achieved within a single device, reducing the overall complexity compared to requiring multiple separate implants or procedures.
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 intraocular implants enhance depth of focus and reduce the invasiveness of surgical procedures by minimizing incision size, improving vision quality and recovery time.
Implementation Method 1
a mask configured to block a substantial portion of optical aberrations that would be created by light passing through the transition zone
Implementation Method 2
an aperture to increase depth of focus (e.g. 'masked' intraocular lenses)
Implementation Method 3
provide an annular mask with a small aperture for light to pass through to the retina to increase depth of focus, sometimes referred to herein as pin-hole imaging or pin-hole vision correction
Implementation Method 4
The optical power of the eye is determined by the optical power of the cornea and the crystalline lens
Data Source
AI summary
Intraocular implants and methods of making intraocular implants are provided. The intraocular implants can improve the vision of a patient, such as by increasing the depth of focus of an eye of a patient. In particular, the intraocular implants can include a mask having an annular portion with a relatively low visible light transmission surrounding a relatively high transmission central portion such as a clear lens or aperture. This construct is adapted to provide an annular mask with a small aperture for light to pass through to the retina to increase depth of focus. The intraocular implant may have an optical power for refractive correction. The intraocular implant may be implanted in any location along the optical pathway in the eye, e.g., as an implant in the anterior or posterior chamber.