Prosthesis (i.e. – artificial body members) – parts thereof – or ai – Eye prosthesis – Intraocular lens
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-27
2001-03-06
Yu, Mickey (Department: 3738)
Prosthesis (i.e., artificial body members), parts thereof, or ai
Eye prosthesis
Intraocular lens
C623S006330, C623S006340
Reexamination Certificate
active
06197057
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to intraocular lenses to be implanted onto a natural or artificial lens in the eye to modify the existing lens system of the eye comprising the cornea and a natural or existing artificial lens. More particularly, the invention relates to an intraocular lens having either a substantially non-refractive configuration with a high minus portion at its center, or a substantially non-refractive prismatic or other diffractive configuration, and which is adaptable for implantation in the eye to modify the natural lens or an existing artificial lens to be adaptable to function as a teledioptic lens or diffractive lens, respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
A normal ametropic eye includes a cornea, lens and retina. The cornea and lens of the normal eye cooperatively focus light entering the eye from a far point, i.e., infinity, onto the retina. However, an eye can have a disease known as macular degeneration which can greatly degrade vision.
Macular degeneration has become one of the leading causes of blindness in adults. This disease affects the central retinal area known as the macula which receives light focused by the cornea and lens and acute vision. Macular degeneration can lead to a gradual or sudden loss of vision to the level of 20/200 or less. Commonly, loss of vision only affects the central retinal area of about 0.25 to 4 square millimeters, and does not usually progress beyond this area, thereby leaving 95-99% of the retina unaffected. Thus, reading and driving vision can be lost, while peripheral vision remains intact.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,666,446 and 4,581,031, both to Koziol and Peyman, and both of which are incorporated by reference herein, each disclose intraocular lenses which are implanted in the eye in place of the natural lens to redirect the rays of light to minimize the adverse affect on vision caused by the macular degeneration of the eye. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,446 discloses an intraocular lens comprising a first portion including a diverging lens and a second portion including a converging lens. The converging lens provides the eye with substantially the same focusing ability of the natural lens prior to implantation of the intraocular lens. Thus, the eye will have decreased visual acuity due to the macular degeneration, but will also have unrestricted peripheral vision. The diverging lens, on the other hand, when combined with a converging lens positioned outside of the eye (e.g., a spectacle lens), provides a magnified image with increased visual acuity but a restricted visual field. Therefore, this type of intraocular lens creates teledioptic lens system, which provides the patient with the choice of unmagnified but peripherally unrestricted vision or magnified but peripherally restricted vision.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,031, discloses an intraocular lens including a convex portion and a prismatic portion. The combined convex/prismatic lens directs rays of light away from the center of the retina that has been damaged by macular degeneration, and focuses those rays onto an undiseased area of the retina, thus providing greater visual acuity.
As discussed above, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,666,446 and 4,581,031 clearly disclose that it is known to use particular types of intraocular lenses in place of the natural lens to reduce the adverse affect of macular degeneration on vision. However, neither of the patents disclose that it is known to use an intraocular lens to modify an existing lens system in the eye, comprising the cornea and a natural or artificial lens already present in the eye, to create a lens system having the prismatic or teledioptic capabilities discussed above to correct for macular degeneration in the eye.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,098,444, 5,366,502, 5,358,520, and 4,932,971, as well as world patent application WO 94/07435, each disclose that it is known to attach a supplemental intraocular lens to an existing artificial intraocular lens to correct for ongoing degradation of vision. That is, if the ability of the eye to focus grows worse over time, instead of replacing the entire intraocular lens with a new intraocular lens having a different refractive power, a supplemental intraocular lens can be attached to the existing intraocular lens. This technique is less invasive and hence, less traumatic to the eye.
However, like U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,666,446 and 4,581,031, none of these patents discloses a supplemental intraocular lens that can be attached to the natural lens or an existing artificial lens to make the lens adaptable to function as a teledioptic or diffractive prismatic lens of the type described above. Accordingly, a continuing need exists for a supplemental intraocular lens having these capabilities.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a supplemental intraocular lens for modifying the natural lens of an existing artificial lens in an eye to correct for macular degeneration.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an intraocular lens for implantation in the eye to modify the lens system of the eye comprising the cornea and the natural or existing artificial lens in the eye, to create a lens system that functions as a teledioptic lens system which, when used without an external lens, provides unmagnified and peripherally unrestricted vision and which, when used with an external lens, provides magnified and peripherally restricted vision to correct for macular degeneration.
Another object of the invention is to provide an intraocular lens for implantation in the eye to modify the lens system of the eye comprising the cornea and the natural or an existing artificial lens in the eye to create a lens system which redirects rays of light away from a diseased portion of the retina in the eye and focuses those rays onto an undiseased area of the retina.
A further object of the invention is to provide intraocular lenses of the types described above which further include fastening members which enable those intraocular lenses to be secured in the eye.
A still further object of the invention is to provide intraocular lenses of the type described above which are capable of being secured directly to the surface of the natural or existing artificial lens in the eye.
These and other objects of the invention are achieved by providing a supplemental intraocular lens which is substantially non-refractive except for a high minus portion at its center. The supplemental intraocular lens is adaptable for implantation in the eye in addition to the natural lens or an artificial lens already present in the eye. The intraocular lens modifies the lens system of the eye, comprising the cornea and the natural or existing artificial lens in the eye, to be adaptable to act as a teledioptic lens system. Specifically, the supplemental intraocular lens provides substantially no refractive power when used without an external lens, thus providing unmagnified and unrestricted peripheral vision. On the other hand, when combined with a converging lens positioned outside of the eye, the high minus portion of the supplemental intraocular lens diverges the converging rays of the light and projects the diverging rays onto an area of the retina to provide a magnified image with a peripherally restricted field of view.
These and other objects are further achieved by providing an intraocular lens having a prism-shaped or other diffractive portion with substantially no refractive power. The intraocular lens of this type is inserted in the eye to modify the existing lens system of the eye, comprising the cornea and the natural or an existing artificial lens in the eye, to create a modified lens system that directs the rays of light entering the eye onto a portion of the retina different from that onto which the rays are directed without the prism-shaped intraocular lens. In particular, the rays are directed to a portion of the retina not damaged by macular degeneration.
The prism-shaped intraocular lens, as well as the teledioptic intraocular lens, each can be at
Koziol Jeffrey E.
Peyman Gholam A.
Nguyen Dinh X.
Roylance Abrams Berdo & Goodman L.L.P.
Yu Mickey
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