US Patent 6,488,707
Inventors: Wayne B. Callahan and Jeffrey S. Callahan
Assignee: ThinOptx, Inc. (Abingdon, VA)
Abstract: A deformable, artificial intraocular contact lens for implantation into the human eye to correct normal-vision problems. The lens may be positioned posteriorly from the iris, resting against the anterior surface of the posterior capsule's natural lens. Alternatively, the lens may be positioned in the anterior chamber of the eye. The implanted lens works in conjunction with the cornea and natural lens to provide proper vision, as a substitute for a regular contact lens, spectacles, and radial keratotomy. The lens may be designed from a rigid or semi-rigid material. Due to the thinness of the structure, the lens may be rolled and inserted into the eye, minimizing both the length of the corneal incision and the stretching of the cornea.

US Patent 6,482,230
Inventors: Kwan Chan, John W. Sheets, Jr, and Mutlu Karakelle
Assignee: Alcon Manufacturing, Ltd. (Fort Worth, TX)
Abstract: A method for determining the propensity of an IOL material to prevent PCO is disclosed. The method involves contacting a sample of an IOL material having the shape of an IOL optic with collagen to form a contact area, incubating the sample in a liquid composition comprising lens epithelial cells, determining whether lens epithelial cells grow on the collagen in the contact area.

US Patent 6,482,229
Inventors: Arlene Gwon and Daniel G. Brady
Assignee: Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. (Santa Ana, CA)
Abstract: An IOL configured to be implanted in the cornea from the posterior aspect. The lens has an optic and a pair of fixation members extending outward therefrom. One of the fixation members includes a single enlarged foot, while the other fixation member has two bifurcated feet. The fixation members are sized and shaped to fix within tunnels formed in the cornea. A method of the invention includes forming tunnels in the stromal layer of the cornea, and positioning the fixation members in the tunnels. The tunnels may be formed from outside or inside the cornea. The method may include inserting the folded IOL into the anterior chamber, permitting the lens to unfold, inserting the fixation member with the enlarged foot in one of the tunnels, and bending the two bifurcated feet of the other fixation member together so as to fit within the other tunnel.

US Patent 6,478,821
Inventors: Stephen W. Laguette and Joseph I. Weinschenk III
Assignee: Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.
Abstract: Iris-fixated IOLs include an optic and at least one fixation member or haptic. The fixation member is joined to the optic and has a distal segment including a through-iris portion adapted to extend through an iris hole, and an anchor portion. The anchor portion has or is adapted to have an anchor structure positioned to be disposed proximate to a side of the iris so as to be effective in fixating the IOL to the iris. The anchor structure may be formed prior to inserting the IOL in the eye or may be formed after the IOL is inserted in the eye. Methods for inserting such IOLs in the eye are also provided.

US Patent 6,475,240
Inventor: Marlene L. Paul
Assignee: Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.
Abstract: An IOL having an optic and a plurality of fixation members coupled to the optic. The fixation members are adapted to be evenly circumferentially distributed about the anterior chamber to reduce the phenomenon of malshaping the iris, for example, pupil ovaling.

US Patent 6,468,307
Inventors: Georges Baikoff and Laurent Hoffmann
Assignee: Bausch & Lomb Surgical, Inc. (Claremont, CA)
Abstract: The invention provides an anterior chamber implant for treating a phakic eye having an optical part connected to loops. The loops have an arc-shaped profile with a double radius of curvature. The radius of curvature of the proximal portion is greater than that of the distal portion.

US Patent 6,465,593
Inventor: Albert R. LeBoeuf
Assignee: Alcon Universal Ltd. (Hunenberg, CH)
Abstract: Hydrophilic coatings for implants are disclosed. The coatings are hydrophobically bound to the implant, but are not covalently cross-linked or covalently anchored to the implant's surface.

US Patent 6,464,725
Inventors: Bernt Christian Skotton
Assignee: None
Abstract: A lens system for implantation in a human eye which makes it possible to restore accommodation. The lens system comprises one anterior lens and a posterior lens; out of these two lenses, one has positive and the other has negative lens power. Accommodation is achieved by varying the distance between the two lenses. This lens system can be made so as to generate large changes in optical power for small changes in position. It also allows the amount of change in optical power for any given amount of change in distance between the lenses to be selected relatively independently of the optical power of the overall lens system.

US Patent 6,461,384
Inventors: Laurent Hoffmann, Mark Wesley Ross, and Donald Carrol Stenger
Assignee: Bausch & Lomb Incorporated (Rochester, NY)
Abstract: An IOL including an optic portion having an outer peripheral edge and two, three, or four balanced looped haptic elements for use to achieve refractive correction. Each looped haptic is formed to have greater resistance to bending in a plane generally parallel to an eye's optical axis than in a plane generally perpendicular to the eye's optical axis. The IOL is designed with specific flexibility characteristics so as to exhibit less than approximately 1.0 mm axial displacement of the optic portion along the eye's optical axis under a compression force suitable to effect a 1.0 mm in diameter compression of the IOL.

US Patent 6,454,802
Inventors: Randolph H. Bretton, David P. Vanderbilt, and George F. Green
Assignee: Bausch & Lomb Incorporated (Rochester, NY)
Abstract: A surface-treated IOL implant for use in the replacement of a cataractous natural lens to prevent PCO. The surface-treated IOL includes one or more proteins, polypeptides, polyamino acids, or polyamines bound to the surface of the IOL implant covalently, noncovalently, or a combination thereof. The one or more proteins, polypeptides, polyamino acids, or polyamines present on the surface of the IOL implant serve to reduce or eliminate residual lens epithelial cell migration within the lens capsule. By preventing residual lens epithelial cell migration, PCO of the IOL implant is thus reduced or eliminated.

US Patent 6,454,801
Inventors: Valdemar Portney
Assignee: Allergan (Waco, TX)
Abstract: A supplemental IOL may be attached to conventional primary IOLs using annular wrap-around clamps or adhesive. New primary IOL configurations have pockets for accommodating relatively small, supplemental IOLs therein.

US Patent 6,451,056
Inventors: J. Stuart Cumming
Assignee: None
Abstract: An IOL provides substantially increased depth of focus for accurate near and far vision with an optic much thinner than a natural lens, and the lens being rigid, vaulted posteriorly, and adapted for posterior positioning in the capsular bag. The optic is positioned substantially farther from the cornea than a natural lens, so that a cone of light exiting the optic to impinge upon the retina is much smaller than a cone of light from a natural lens. Typically, the optic may be about 1.0 mm thick, and its distance from the cornea is 7.0 to 8.0 mm.

US Patent 6,468,306
Inventors: Marlene L. Paul, Daniel G. Brady, and Jim Deacon
Assignee: Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.
Abstract: An IOL implantable in an eye includes an optic for placement in the capsular bag of the eye and for directing light toward the retina of the eye. The optic has a central optical axis, an anterior face, an opposing posterior face and a peripheral edge between the faces. The peripheral edge has one or more curved or angled surfaces that reduce glare within the IOL. For instance, a rounded transition surface on the anterior side of the peripheral edge diffuses the intensity of reflected light, or a particular arrangement of straight edge surfaces refracts the light so as not to reflect, or does not reflect at all. The intersection of the peripheral edge and at least one of the anterior face and the posterior face, preferably both of such faces, forms a peripheral corner located at a discontinuity between the peripheral edge and the intersecting face or faces. The present IOLs inhibit cell growth from the eye in front of or in back of the optic and reduce glare obtained in the eye in which the IOL is located.

For more detailed information on these and other patents, visit the US Patent Office's Web site at http://patft.uspto.gov.