Eyeworld

December 2016 • Ophthalmology Business 25 Portable device simulates different IOLs before surgery by Liz Hillman, Staff Writer implantations," wrote the authors of an article published in the jour- nal Optica. 1 "Contact lens specialists often rely on a trial-and-error ap- proach, trying multiple contact lens designs until the optimal solution is identified. We have presented a novel portable through-focus simultaneous vision simulator that allows experi- encing the real world through realis- tic optical simulations of multifocal corrections. The system holds prom- ise as a tool to help in selecting the optimal treatment for the patient." While there are other visual sim- ulation devices on the market, the SimVis prototype uses what Susana Marcos, PhD, director of the insti- tute's Visual Optics and Biophotonics Lab, called "temporal multiplexing." of spectacle independence they could achieve with a refractive IOL com- pared to a monofocal option. If an IOL is implanted and the patient's expectations are not met, an IOL exchange or touch-up procedure might be required, but what if it was possible to test a variety of IOLs on the patient before he or she was implanted? The Institute of Optics in Madrid has created SimVis, a portable simulta- neous vision simulator that allows pa- tients to experience the effect an IOL would have before it is implanted. "Clinicians often fail at offering a multifocal solution to a patient if they subjectively believe that patient may not be satisfied postop- eratively, or if they find unsatisfied patients following multifocal IOL Could help to determine patient preference, tolerance before implantation O phthalmologists can take mea- surements, make observations, and provide their best recommendations to a patient about different IOLs that could be used at the time of cataract surgery, but all patients are different. It can be diffi- cult to predict how they'll react to a multifocal IOL, if they will tolerate monovision, or how they'll adapt to side effects like halo. It can also be difficult to describe to them the level continued on page 26

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