Ophthalmic lens with reduced edge glare

Abstract: An ophthalmic lens is disclosed. The lens has a one-piece lens body with an integral edge surface (21). The edge surface (21) includes means displayed on the edge surface (21) for reflecting visible light which contacts the edge surface (21) away from the retina of the patient. This lens design reduces glare seen by the patient caused when incident light contacts the edge surface (21) and is undesirably reflected onto the retina.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an ophthalmic lens which is designed to minimize the amount of visible light reflected onto the retina from the edges of the lens. More specifically, it relates to an ophthalmic lens, especially an intraocular lens, which has a lens body with an edge surface designed to reflect incident light on the edge surface away from the retina. Conventional intraocular lenses typically have flat edges that, under certain conditions, can reflect incident light onto the retina to produce unwanted optical images, such as halos, rings, or arcs (commonly referred to as "glare"). Typically, the images occur when the pupil dilates large enough to expose, or nearly expose, the edge surface of the lens. These conditions occur at night or in dim light. For example, the unwanted images can be produced while driving at night by light rays from headlights of oncoming cars as the rays reflect or scatter from the exposed edges of the lens. The problem of glare has worsened for intraocular lenses which have been specifically designed for small incision surgery. Intraocular lenses for small incision surgery may have a lens body which is round or oval, but the diameter of the lens body is smaller than that of a lens designed for conventional surgery. Therefore, the edges of these small diameter lenses are more often exposed to incident light. More commonly, intraocular lenses for small incision surgery have an oval shape. These oval shaped lenses are referred to as "ovoid" lenses, and such lenses are described in Clayman's patent, U.S. Patent 4,298,994. Because of the method of manufacture of these ovoid lenses, the ovoid has thicker edges on the small diameter sides of the lens body. It is therefore particularly susceptible to reflections and glare, because the thicker edges provide more surface area for reflections and therefore amplify these problems. The popularity of small incision surgery is increasing and the ovoid has become the lens of choice for many small incision surgeons. Edge glare is one of the main drawbacks of ovoid lenses. Popularity with these lenses will continue to grow if the glare problem can be controlled. Unfortunately, lens designs which have attempted to deal with the glare problem have been far from practical or efficient in dealing with this problem. For example, U.S. Patent 4,596,578 discloses an intraocular lens having a lens body and a deformable positioning member for fixing the position of the lens body in the anterior chamber of the eye. The lens body and the positioning member are separately inserted into the eye, and then connected together in the eye to form the lens. A portion of the positioning member covers the periphery of the lens body, and this portion may be shaped so that light rays contacting the periphery of the lens body are deflected away from the retina. While this lens design may work in theory to help minimize glare, it represents a cumbersome attempt to deal with this problem. It is clearly undesirable from a surgeon's point of view to have to first insert the lens body of the intraocular lens, and then afterwards insert a positioning member which must then be connected to the lens body. Other attempts have been made to minimize the effect of glare in intraocular lenses. U.S. Patent 4,781,717 discloses an intraocular lens having a lens body and an integrally attached rim surrounding the lens body which covers the edge of the lens body. Reduction in "edge effect" and glare can be achieved according to this patent by adding a different color or using a different material for the rim. U.S. Patent 4,743,254 describes an intraocular lens having a lens body and a deformable glare attachment. The glare attachment and lens body form a circle, and the glare attachment can be envisioned as "flaps" which fold down so that the intraocular lens can be inserted through a small incision in the eye. The glare attachment is desirably opaque to reduce the transmission of light through this section in comparison to the optical lens body. Once again, while these two approaches may appear to work in theory to reduce glare, the lens designs are difficult to fabricate and create unnecessary complications for the surgeon when the lens is to be implanted into the eye. Additionally, these lens designs require incorporating a coloring agent or a different component into the lens composition, which further complicates the manufacturing process. Another interesting design to minimize glare in an intraocular lens can be found in U.S. Patent 4,755,182. This patent discloses an intraocular lens having positioning holes displayed on the periphery of the lens body to aid the surgeon in manipulating and inserting the intraocular lens into the eye. The positioning holes are drilled only partially through the lens body, and the interior surface of the hole is not polished. These design features for the positioning holes reduce glare significantly. However, there is no discussion relating to any means for reducing glare caused by incident light contacting the edge surface of the lens body of the intraocular lens. EP- A- 0 329 981 discloses an ophthalmic lens having an inner body and an outer body made of materials having different chromatic dispersion and retraction properties. Blinding is reduced by a single optically opaque annular body arranged around the inner body of the lens. Derwent publication AN 90-244636 discloses an artificial eye lens in which a support element is attached to one quadrant of the lens and rests in a groove in the end face of the lens. In US- A- 4 449 257 a plurality of parallel grooves are provided on the edge surface of a lens body with the purpose to hold the lens in place. However, the outer portion of the edge surface containing the circumference is not flat, but rounded, and does not contain any groove. While the discussion here has been limited primarily to intraocular lenses, the problem of edge glare is also inherent for other ophthalmic lenses. Although there is a major effort to design smaller intraocular lenses for small incision surgery, which has led to burgeoning edge glare problems, the reader should not overlook the fact that these problems also occur with other ophthalmic lens designs, particularly lens designs for contact lenses and spectacles. In view of the pervasive nature of this edge glare problem for all types of ophthalmic lenses, it would be highly desirable to form an ophthalmic lens which is simple in design, and yet alleviates the problem of edge glare. More specifically, the ophthalmic community needs a lens with a simple one-piece design for the lens body of the lens which has an edge surface characterized in such a way that it significantly reduces or essentially eliminates the creation of unwanted glare. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there is provided an ophthalmic lens as defined in the claims. The lens comprises a one-piece lens body for focusing visible light on the retina of a patient. The lens body has an integral flat edge surface which contains the circumference of the lens body. The integral edge surface includes means displayed on this surface for reflecting visible light which contacts the edge surface away from the retina of the patient. The ophthalmic lens of this invention is simple in design. It significantly reduces or eliminates patient glare caused by incident light contacting the edge surface of the lens, and then reflecting this incident light on the retina. The lens does not require fabrication from two or more separate pieces to form the lens body, and the surgeon is not required to implant separately connectable components into the patient's eye. Nothing is needed to cover the edge surface of the lens body to minimize or eliminate glare caused by light contacting the edge surface. Additionally, the peripheral portion of the lens body, including the edge surface, does not need to be composed of a different material from that of the primary lens optic. For example, it is unnecessary to incorporate into the material defining the periphery of the lens body a component or combination of components which are intended to reduce the transmission of light through these peripheral regions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a human eye showing the pathway of an incident beam of light reflected from the edge of the lens body of a conventional intraocular lens implanted in the human eye; Figure 2A is a photomicrograph taken at a magnification of 15X showing an overall view in perspective of an intraocular lens within the scope of the invention; Figure 2B is a photomicrograph taken at a magnification of 85X showing the edge of the intraocular lens of Figure 2A; Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the edge surface of the lens body of an ophthalmic lens of this invention, showing the reflection of an incident beam of light from the edge surface; Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the edge surface of the lens body of a conventional ophthalmic lens, showing the reflection of an incident beam of light from the edge surface; Figure 5A is a photograph showing the retinal image produced from a conventional intraocular lens implanted in an eye model for simulating optical performance; and Figure 5B is a photograph showing the retinal image produced from an intraocular lens within the scope of this invention implanted in the same eye model for simulating optical performance as used for preparing the photograph of Figure 5A. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS For the purpose of describing this invention, an ophthalmic lens is any lens for the eye which improves vision, provides therapy, or enhances or modifies appearance. Such lenses include, but are not limited to, intraocular lenses, contact lenses, corneal inlay lenses, corneal bandage lenses, and spectacles. Preferably, the ophthalmic lens is designed for placement on the cornea or in the eye. The preferred lenses are intraocular lenses and contact lenses. The most preferred lens is an intraocular lens. An intraocular lens is an artificial lens which is implanted in the eye following cataract surgery when the natural lens of the eye is removed. As defined in this specification, the lens body of the ophthalmic lens refers solely to the optical lens portion of the lens. Therefore, the ophthalmic lens of this invention would not exclude, for example, an intraocular lens-conventionally known as a "three-piece lens", which has a lens body to which is attached two filamentary haptics, so long as this three-piece lens has a one-piece lens body. To illustrate the difficulties which this invention solves in a simple manner, the pathway of an incident beam of light across the edge of a conventional, implanted intraocular lens is represented in Figure 1. There is shown at Figure 1 a human eye 10, which includes the cornea 11 at the exterior of the eye, and the iris 12. An intraocular lens 13, such as a posterior chamber lens, is implanted in the posterior capsule 14 of the eye following cataract surgery to provide proper focusing of light which enters the eye through the pupil 15. An incident beam of light 16 entering the eye through the pupil may strike the edge 17 of the lens body of the intraocular lens. When the edge surface is conventionally flat or rounded commonly used in the prior art, the light beam 18 reflects off of the edge surface toward the back of the eye posteriorly until it impinges upon the active retinal region 19 of the eye. This reflection causes glare, which is any unwanted optical image formed on the retina of the eye. In a similar manner, unwanted glare can be formed by edge reflections from other ophthalmic lenses, most notably contact lenses and spectacles. The substantial elimination of glare can be accomplished by adding grooves onto the edge surface of the lens for reflecting the incident beam of light which contacts this surface away from the retina of the patient. The preferred embodiment for these means is shown in the photomicrographs of the intraocular lens in Figure 2. In Figure 2A, there is seen an intraocular lens with a simple, one-piece lens body for focusing visible light on the retina of the patient. The lens body has an integral edge surface defining the circumference of the lens body. Attached to and extending outwardly from the lens body are mutually opposed filamentary haptics. The haptics provide support for the lens in the eye and prevent the lens from decentering after implantation. As clearly depicted in Figure 2B, the integral edge surface has a plurality of grooves. Each of the grooves is substantially parallel to the other grooves, and each groove extends around the circumference of the lens body in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of the lens body. Referring now to Figure 3, there is schematically illustrated the pathway that an off-axis incident beam of light would take when it contacts the edge surface of the intraocular lens photographed in Figures 2A and 2B. An incident beam of light 20 would contact the grooved surface 21 of the edge of the lens body, and would reflect away from the retina, thus eliminating or significantly reducing the glare effect. As depicted in Figure 3, each of the grooves is preferably a V-shaped groove, although any shape can be used. In actual practice when a V-shaped groove is machined into the edge surface of the lens, any sharp outer edges may be abraded off during processing, e.g. during tumbling to polish the lens, so that the V-shaped groove may actually have somewhat rounded edges. However, this V-shaped configuration is preferred because other configurations, particularly those in which the grooves are essentially round in shape, reduce the effectiveness by allowing more unwanted glare images. The actual number of grooves added onto the edge surface can vary over a wide range. The number of grooves is not critical to the practice of this invention, and it will depend on the thickness of the edge surface as well as the width of each groove. The lens has multiple grooves because as the number of grooves increases the required depth of each groove correspondingly decreases. This is advantageous because if the depth of each groove becomes too large, then there is the possibility that the groove could intrude into the optic zone and consequently affect the visual performance of the lens body. On the other hand, there would reach a point where each individual groove would become too small, which could increase the possibility of unwanted light scattering or diffraction from the edge surface. Advantageously, the number of grooves is such that the depth of each groove varies within a range extending from the wavelength of light to about 400X greater than the wavelength of light (the wavelength of light in the visible spectrum ranges from about 450 to about 750 nanometers). Normally, the exact dimensions of each groove are such that a proper balancing is struck between the optical performance of the lens and manufacturing constraints. The difference in performance of the grooved-edge lens of Figure 3 from a conventional flat, rounded-edge lens of the prior art is illustrated in Figure 4. Here, in Figure 4, an incident beam of light 22 contacts the flat edge surface 23 of the lens body and reflects this light toward the retinal surface of the eye. This reflection correspondingly increases the risk of creating unwanted glare on the retina. The beneficial effects from using the ophthalmic lens of this invention are realized to a great degree in one particular instance when the lens body is relatively small. With respect to intraocular lenses, conventional round lenses typically have diameters between 6-7mm, but with the advent of small incision surgery, round lenses with diameters less than or equal to 5.5mm are becoming more common. The reduced diameter of the lens body relative to the pupil creates a correspondingly increased risk that incident light will contact the edge surface of these lenses. Not only is the frequency upon which incident light contacts the edge surface of the lens a determining factor in the severity of unwanted glare problems, but also the thickness of the edge surface tends to accentuate this problem. Unfortunately, as the thickness of the edge increases, the severity of the glare problem tends to increase as well. In this regard, round lenses typically have a thin edge with a thickness between about 0.20 to about 0.28mm, although edge thicknesses outside this range are possible. However, the ovoid lens typically has a varying thickness at the edge surface, with a thin edge region and a thick edge region. The thickness of the thick edge region will vary depending on the optical power of the lens, but is typically about 0.40mm for a 20 diopter lens. It is at these regions of increased edge thickness on the ovoid lens which make the use of a grooved-edge surface, or any other means displayed on the edge surface of the lens body, particularly attractive for reflecting light away from the retina. The placement of grooves on the edge surface of the lens body of an ophthalmic lens can be accomplished using conventional machining methods. For example, a milling machine with a cutter specifically designed to provide the desired grooved edge effect can be used. Alternatively, other methods such as casting or embossing can be used. If the lens is a soft lens such as silicone, soft acrylic, or a hydrogel, then the grooves can be added onto the lens during the molding process. Specifically, this would require simply machining a mold for the lens which has the desired configuration of the grooves. Simulated retinal images produced by a grooved-edge intraocular lens and a conventional round-edge lens are shown in the photographs in Figures 5A and 5B to illustrate the differences in the optical performance of these lenses. Sample lenses were tested in a Gullstrand eye model for optical performance. The Gullstrand model is a mechanical simulation of a human eye, using typical eye dimensions. The eye model is made to allow the insertion of test lenses to measure the optical performance of an intraocular lens in place of the natural crystalline lens. The Gullstrand eye model is a conventional eye model described originally in A. Gullstrand, Dei Optisch Abbedung, ed.3, Helmholtz Handbuch der Physilogischen Optik, Hamburg 1909; and then more currently, for example, in H.H. Emsley, Visual Optics, 3rd ed., pg. 346, Butterworths, Scarborough, Ont. 1955. The simulated retinal image is photographed directly to show the images that might be seen by a patient with the test lens implanted. Figure 5A is the image from a standard ovoid lens with a conventionally rounded edge surface without grooves. Figure 5B is the image from a grooved ovoid non-glare lens within the scope of this invention. The solid circular portion shown in each of the photographs is the useful image from light passing through the lens. The crescent to the left of the useful image for the non-grooved intraocular lens is the unwanted image from edge reflection. A comparison of the photographs shown in Figures 5A and 5B illustrates that the crescent-shaped image produced from edge reflection in Figure 5A is dramatically eliminated in the photograph shown in Figure 5B. Therefore, these experimental results show that unwanted optical images caused by reflections from the edges of intraocular lenses, as well as any other kind of ophthalmic lens, can be eliminated by the addition of means on the edge surface for reflecting light away from the retina, most particularly by the addition of V-shaped grooves on the edge surface. This invention has been described in its preferred embodiments. Numerous additional embodiments within this invention can be readily envisioned by those skilled in the art, after having the benefit of reading this specification.

Claims: An ophthalmic lens (13) comprising: a one piece lens body for focussing visible light on the retina of a patient, said lens body having an integral flat edge surface (21) containing the circumference of said lens body, said edge surface (21) including a plurality of grooves displayed on said edge surface (21) for reflecting visible light which contacts said surface (21) away from the retina of the patient; wherein each of said grooves extends on said flat edge surface of said lens body in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of the lens body. The lens (13) of claim 1, wherein each of said grooves is a V-shaped groove. The lens (13) of any of the preceding claims, wherein said lens is a corneal inlay lens. The lens (13) of any of claims 1 or 2, wherein said lens is an intraocular lens. The lens (13) of claim 4, wherein said introcular lens has a round lens body with a diameter less than or equal to 5.5mm. The lens (13) of claim 4, wherein said intraocular lens is an ovoid intraocular lens.

Inventors: FLEDDERJOHANN MICHAEL LEE, WOFFINDEN GEORGE JOSEPH, FLEDDERJOHANN, MICHAEL LEE, WOFFINDEN, GEORGE JOSEPH
Applicants: IOLAB CORP, IOLAB CORPORATION
Application year: 1993
Main classification: A61F2
IPC codes: G02C7, A61F2