Near, intermediate and distance vision are all corrected in cataract patients with the ReSTOR intraocular lens with apodized diffractive optics.

FORT WORTH, Texas, March 2005 — A new artificial lens (intraocular lens) that often can restore sight at near, intermediate, and distant ranges following cataract surgery received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, said Alcon Inc. officials in a news release.

“The clinical studies supporting the approval showed that 80 percent of patients who received the AcrySof ReSTOR lens did not use glasses for any activities after cataract surgery,” the release said.

Other intraocular lenses may produce vision at all ranges by depending on the action of the eye’s muscles accommodation). But the AcrySof ReSTOR lens provides different ranges of vision based on a lens configuration that enables specific distribution of light in response to how wide or small the eye’s pupil might be. This light distribution design is called apodized diffractive optics.

Most current intraocular lenses used for cataract surgery are able to restore vision only in limited distance ranges, hich means patients often must use eyeglasses or other corrective lenses following surgery.

Alcon officials say surgeon training for use of the lens will begin in the United States in April, followed by commercial shipments of the lens in May.