Phakic intraocular lens

Phakic intraocular lens
Photo of an eye after PIOL-implantation, 24 hours after surgery. The lens is visible in front of the iris; the pupil is still small due to presurgery eyedrops.

A phakic intraocular lens (PIOL) is an intraocular lens that is implanted surgically into the eye to correct refractive errors without removing the natural lens (also known as "phakos", hence the term). Intraocular lenses that are implanted into eyes after the eye's natural lens has been removed during cataract surgery are known as pseudophakic.

Phakic intraocular lenses are indicated for patients with high refractive errors when the usual laser options for surgical correction (LASIK and PRK) are contraindicated.[1][2] Phakic IOLs are designed to correct high myopia ranging from −5 to −20 D if the patient has enough anterior chamber depth (ACD) of at least 3 mm.[3]

Three types of phakic IOLs are available:

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ao was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Lovisolo, CF; Reinstein, DZ (Nov–Dec 2005). "Phakic intraocular lenses". Survey of Ophthalmology. 50 (6): 549–587. doi:10.1016/j.survophthal.2005.08.011. PMID 16263370.
  3. ^ Dimitri T. Azar; Damien Gatinel (2007). Refractive surgery (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Mosby Elsevier. pp. 397–463. ISBN 978-0-323-03599-6.