Suspended Central Intraocular Lens for Dynamic Focus Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing intraocular lenses, such as monofocal and multifocal lenses, fail to effectively adjust focus in response to ciliary eye muscles, leading to issues like farsightedness and visual disturbances after cataract surgery.
Innovation Solution
A liquid-inflatable intraocular lens with a central lens suspended by webbing and multiple lenses on the bag walls, allowing axial movement in response to ciliary muscle contraction, featuring a double chamber design and haptic arms for precise focus adjustment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a traditional monofocal intraocular lens is implanted, then good distance vision is achieved, but the patient cannot adjust focus and needs glasses for close-range work
Solution Approach 1:
The lens is divided into multiple segments including a central lens and at least one second lens embedded in the wall. These segments can move independently relative to each other when the capsule is deformed, enabling focus adjustment while maintaining manageable structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The lens transitions from a static monofocal design to a dynamic multifocal design where the distance between lens segments can change. The capsule's ability to deform and the webbing's flexibility enable the lenses to move axially, providing dynamic focus adjustment capability
2Adaptability or versatility
If a multifocal intraocular lens is used to reduce dependence on glasses, then multiple focal points are achieved, but halos and glare are produced
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the lens have different optical properties. The central lens and second lens can be positioned at different distances from the optical axis and have different optical powers, creating localized focal points that reduce overlapping light paths and minimize halos and glare
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of creating multiple focal points in the same optical plane, the invention uses the axial dimension to separate focal points at different depths. By moving lenses along the optical axis, the system creates focal points at different distances while maintaining spatial separation, reducing optical interference
3Measurement precision
If the filling amount of optical fluid medium is changed to design adjustable intraocular lenses, then focus adjustment is achieved, but the adjustment cannot be controlled by the patient's own ciliary eye muscles
Solution Approach 1:
The lens system is designed to be self-adjusting through the body's natural mechanisms. The ciliary muscle's contraction and relaxation naturally deform the capsule, which in turn moves the lenses to adjust focus. The system converts the body's natural physiological actions into optical adjustment without requiring external control mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The capsule acts as an intermediary between the ciliary muscle and the lenses. The muscle's contraction deforms the capsule, and this deformation is transmitted to the lenses through the capsule wall and webbing, causing the lenses to move and adjust focus. This intermediary mechanism enables natural muscle control of the optical system
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 lens design enables dynamic focus adjustment, potentially eliminating the need for glasses by mimicking natural lens movement, reducing visual disturbances, and accommodating a wider range of vision needs.
Implementation Method 1
a liquid-inflatable, pliable shell... when the shell is full of liquid the central lens and the second lens are coaxial, and radially pulling or pushing on the equator alters a distance between the lenses
Data Source
AI summary
An intraocular lens (IOL) has a small, central lens suspended within a pliable housing and, when the housing is filled with liquid, is coaxially aligned with a second small lens embedded in the wall of the housing. The suspension is on a dome- or other-shaped webbing attached to an inner circumference of the wall. When filled with liquid, forces squeezing or pulling the equator of the housing, as with ciliary muscles in the eye, adjust a distance between the lenses in order to adjust focus. Optional haptics may project from points on or above and below the equator. A recess in the posterior hemisphere of the housing can keep cell growth away from an optical axis of the lens system. A third small lens can be embedded in an opposite wall of the housing and coaxially aligned with the other lenses to form a three-lens, ultra-zoom system.