Purpose: Traditionally IOLs have been designed to optimize central retina, but degrade optical quality in the periphery due to its biconvex shape. In order to improve image quality in the peripheral retina, a new inverted meniscus IOL was developed (ArtIOL, Voptica SL,Murcia, Spain). On the other hand, IOL implantation can be associated with image distortion. This study compares the induced image distortion of standard biconvex IOL with inverted meniscus lenses.
Methods: Fundus images pre- and post- cataract surgery were taken with an ultra-widefield retinal camera (CLARUS 500, Zeiss, Germany) in 43 eyes implanted with ArtIOL and 55 eyes implanted with a standard biconvex IOL (control group). Retinal landmarks such as vessel bifurcations were identified for each eye and their relative radial position was determined using a MATLAB (MathWorks, Inc. Natick, MA, USA) script. Retinal distortion up to forty degrees was obtained for both groups.
Results: Distortion has been found to be significantly lower in the ArtIOL group than in the control one. Furthermore, distortion was found to increase with eccentricity much faster for biconvex IOL than in the ArtIOL one, predicting even larger differences for higher eccentricities.
Conclusions: Due to its inverted meniscus shape ArtIOLs have better performance on the peripheral field. Although mainly designed to improve off axis defocus, they have also been found to reduce retinal image distortion in pseudophakic eyes with respect to traditional biconvex IOLs. This fact may have an impact on the performance of pseudophakic subjects when confronted with daily tasks, such as driving or stair climbing, that involve peripheral vision.
