Range of refractive independence and mechanism of action of a corneal shape–changing hydrogel inlay: Results and theory

The clinical data presented show the corneal inlay significantly improved near and intermediate uncorrected visual acuities across a 2.0 D range of preoperative refractive range (-0.5 D to +1.50 D) and age-related reading ADD powers between +1.50 D to +2.50 D.  Near task performance was also significantly improved in good and dim light compared to preoperative levels.  In the treated eye, the mean postoperative visual acuities were: 20/25 (near), 20/25 (intermediate), and 20/32 (distance).   The clinical outcomes are explained by the center-near power profile of the cornea induced by the shape-changing inlay providing zones within the pupil for good near, intermediate, and distance image quality.  And this thesis is confirmed by optical ray-trace predictions of visual acuity over this preoperative refractive range at distance, intermediate and near.