Design and performance of a shape-changing accommodating intraocular lens

Presbyopia, the age-related loss of the crystalline lens’ ability to dynamically focus, occurs primarily because of stiffening of lens material, making the ciliary muscle forces insufficient to reshape the lens. Despite its prevalence, there is no satisfactory solution to presbyopia. Here, we present a novel accommodating intraocular lens (A-IOL) able to reshape upon equatorial forces in compliance with the eye’s accommodating mechanism. The concept and design parameters are demonstrated through Finite Element Model simulations and measurements in a manufactured A-IOL prototype, using custom quantitative 3-D OCT (geometrical changes) and Laser Ray Tracing (power changes), with forces radially applied using a custom 8-arm mechanical stretcher. There was an excellent agreement between simulations and measurements (1% for the focal length and 11.4% for geometrical parameters, on average) for radial load of up to 0.6 N. The developed design is expected to achieve ∼2.5 D of effective power change with a polymer material with 0.15-0.25 MPa Young’s Modulus and n=1.44-1.46.