Philadelphia nanoFLEX IOL Provider – Dr. James Lewis
Serving Bucks County, Phoenixville, Conshohocken, Delaware Valley, King of Prussia, Warminster and Montgomery County
The “zero-cost premium IOL (Intraocular Lens)” by Staar Surgical is my implant of choice for almost all of my cataracts Philadelphia patients. Although it provides slightly less uncorrected reading vision than Crystalens, nanoFLEX provides the best intermediate uncorrected vision available in the United States. I am proud to have led the clinical team that investigated this implant.
Staar has always been an innovator creating the first foldable lens and the first Toric Lens (astigmatism correcting). More recently Staar developed the only FDA approved posterior chamber phakic lens, the Visian ICL (Intraocular Contact Lens). The Visian is made from Collamer a combination of PolyHema (contact lens material) and collagen (organic). The Visian ICL has surpassed LASIK in Europe as the most preferred vision correction surgery.
Staar did not submit the nanoFLEX to the FDA as a Premium IOL. I suspect, had they known the performance characteristics of this lens they would have been granted Premium IOL Status. For now, unlike Crystalens, ReZoom, and Restore, nanoFLEX is the only “zero cost Premium IOL”.
For those seeking the best possible IOL and the most biocompatible implant material will find nanoFLEX, made from Collamer (just like the Visian ICL), to have no competitors.
Collamer, in my experience, is never attacked by the the immune system. In high risk patients acrylic, silicone, and PMMA based implants (including Rezoom, Restor and Crystalens) are attacked by circulating white blood cells with deposition of pigment and satellite accumulations of lipid. Unlike these other lenses and these other materials, the iris does not stick to collamer implants. Unless Staar licenses this material to other manufacturers they will remain the only company to make Collamer implants for another decade.
The nanoFLEX has a double aspheric optic allowing for greater depth of field, reduction of spherical aberration and improved contrast sensitivity. Futhermore, the aspheric design was developed against a curved retinal surface rather than a flat retina. This more correctly simulates the human eye’s natural shape and enhances the aspheric effect.
Most acrylic lenses, including the popular multifocal IOLs ReZoom, ReSTOR and AcrySof Toric lenses, are highly reflective. I can usually spot someone with one of these lenses across the room. I have been asked to remove these implants because it often makes patients self-conscious. Their eyes appear to reflect in normal lighting conditions and in photographs. One acrylic lens, a hydrophilic (rather than hydrophobic) acrylic, soft HD by Lenstec, does not have this problem.
Acrylic lenses cause dysphotopsia in a disturbing number of normal postoperative Philadelphia cataract surgery patients. These total internal reflections are seen as an aberrant arc of light off to one side. Fortunately, almost half of these go away. The recommended treatment for symptoms that persist is to remove the lens or place a zero power Collamer lens on top to eliminate the reflections.
The nanoFLEX has the highest degree of light transmission with the lowest level of scatter and reflection. (Night Driving Simulation)
The MTF (Mean Transfer Function) of Collamer is superior to the other lenses listed and relatively close to the theoretical maximum. MTF is used to quantify the quality of vision for both IOLs and LASIK surgery.
Finally, the nanoFLEX has been shown to produce outstanding intermediate vision. This includes the ability to use your laptop without glasses. This is accomplished without splitting the light (ReZoom and ReStor) or by using a silicone implant (Crystalens). Silicone is a material that has been surpassed in biocompatibility, performance, and precision by others in recent years. Furthermore, Silicone can not be used in patients who have certain retinal conditions.