by Gloria Butler Baldwin, Memphis Medical News
October 2006

STAAR (Surgical Technologies and Applied Research) Surgical's new Visian ICL (Implantable Contact Lens) is taking corrective eye surgery to a whole new level. Teaming up with Southern Eye Associates in Memphis, STAAR is bringing the only foldable, minimally invasive, most anatomically correct lens available to qualified nearsighted patients. In fact, Memphis patients who don't qualify for other corrective procedures are now walking in with glasses and walking out without them.

Case in point, Lashonda Ray, a 27-year-old Memphis native who has been wearing glasses for 14 years.

"The first thing I did every morning was pick up my glasses by my bed," Ray said. "Today, I drove the car by myself without my glasses. It feels great. With glasses, you've got that sidepiece that affects your peripheral vision. With this, you just get up and go."

While there are many corrective procedures on the market, they are not all for everybody. For starters, not everyone is a candidate for LASIK because of dry eyes, thin corneas or large pupils. Visian kicks in for those patients who don't qualify. And, instead of the 6.5 mm corneal incision required in the Verisyse procedure, Visian ICL requires only a 3 mm incision that heals itself within 72 hours, so no sutures are required and there's very little downtime. In addition, rather than the implant being placed in front of the cornea, the Visian implant goes behind the iris, making it undetectable.

Ophthalmologist Cathy Schanzer, owner of Southern Eye Associates, is the first in Memphis and one of few in Tennessee to offer the sight-giving procedure.

"I prefer to do one eye and have the patient return the following day to do the second," Schanzer said. "This is something implanted into your body and if you're going to have any adverse side effects, we want to know it. Patients may be a little out of balance until the second eye gets done, but most are able to go back to work within two days."

Patients are given a sedative and numbing drops before surgery. After the 15-minute procedure, they may have a sensation of having a speck of dust in their eye for a very short time. Tylenol is suggested for any discomfort, but no pain medication is needed. With approximately 20 minutes prep time and 20 to 30 minutes post-op, patients usually leave after an hour and half to two hours.

Requirements for the Visian ICL procedure are patients with -3.00 to -20.00 diopters of myopia. A battery of tests are given to interested patients measuring their nearsightedness, corneal thickness and other factors to make sure their eye is healthy.

Schanzer said patients can be treated outside those parameters, but additional procedures may be needed afterward, such as a touch of laser.

Stacey Huddleston, director of operations for Southern Eye Associates, said the cases have been a tremendous success.

"With LASIK, you're flattening the cornea by evaporating tissue. With this, we're not taking any tissue from the eye," Huddleston said. "Everyone is so excited to be able to see without their glasses the very first day, even after just one eye is done, for the first time in years."

Possible side effects are par for any procedure. According to Schanzer, there is a higher risk of pupillary block, so a peripheral iridotomy is required first. There is also a possible risk of cataract development, pressure behind the eye, and infection. Halos, glare and night-vision problems could creep in as with other implants. Still, it's a great way to lose the glasses or contacts.

Joe Cole, application specialist with the Monrovia, California-based STAAR, was in Memphis to oversee the first cases.

"We designed this procedure 15 years ago, and over 55,000 cases have already been performed internationally," said Cole. "The United States is always the last to get any type of technology because it's the most stringent when it comes to studies. Our success rate for people who are moderately or extremely satisfied is 99 percent with less than 1 percent complication. We now have a 'Toric version' of the lens submitted for FDA approval that will correct astigmatism. We're hoping for approval by the end of this year."

> Click here to learn more about the Visian ICL