New Visian ICL approved in Japan

STAAR Surgical Co. announced that its Visian Implantable Collamer Lens with CentraFLOW technology has been approved for marketing in Japan.

This approval expands the product’s treatment of myopia down to -3.0 D from the current range, which starts at -5.0 D. The implantable collar lens (ICL) already treats up to -18 D of myopia and spherical range from +1 D to +4.5 D of astigmatism.

The product is driven by the KS-AquaPORT, a technology designed to promote natural aqueous flow and make performing an iridotomy unnecessary.

“After seven years of follow-up, the results have been excellent with no intraocular pressure increase, cataract formation or visual side effects,” said Dr. Kimiya Shimizu, professor and chairman of the department of ophthalmology at Kitasato University in Tokyo, regarding the ICL, on which he began performing research in 2004. “In countries where it is approved for use, the CentraFLOW KS-AquaPORT has rapidly become the ICL of choice. It exceeded our expectations; the CentraFLOW KS-AquaPORT is now the premiere solution for vision correction providing better visual performance than LASIK. With this new technology, it is not necessary to perform an iridotomy, which makes it easier for surgeons to diagnose and perform surgery in the same day, which was more difficult than previous versions of the lens."