Intacs corneal implants for myopia and keratoconus

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 1:44 pm Post in Eye Diseases

Among various treatments for keratoconus, Intacs corneal inserts or implants are special that they insert two tiny and clear pieces of plastic polymer (intacs) into the cornea. Firstly approved for mild myopia, the Intacs implants now have been approved to be described as corneal implants for keratoconus treatment, rather than prescription inserts. Corneal implants are designed for long-term vision correction and have receives satisfying results from clinical trials and practices.

Intacs can be replaced as your prescription changes due to keratoconus progression. However, good candidates for Intacs should have stable vision or stable prescription. Those patients under 21 are not eligible for corneal ring implantation, because they may experience changes in their glasses and contact lenses prescriptions.

An Intacs procedure only takes about 15 minutes on an outpatient basis. During the procedure, your surgeon creates a tunnel between layers of the corneal stroma and chooses Intacs with proper ring thickness. Then the Intacs will be inserted into the tunnel. These Intacs will flatten the steep part of the cornea to reduce vision distortions. The thicker the ring in Intacs, the higher vision correction can be achieved. The material of Intacs is same with that in intraocular lenses, so adverse effects are rare.

Patients after the procedure will neither feel the ring segments nor experience any discomfort. They need several days’ relaxation for good healing. Patients will get different results from Intacs implants depending on varying severities of keratoconus, although Intacs are very effective at flattering the cone. Those with mild keratoconus can get nearly perfect vision correction, while moderate and severe keratoconus patients may also need glasses, soft lenses or GP lenses for additional vision correction or delaying of a corneal transplant. In addition, Intacs are incompetent in dealing with keratoconus progression caused by weakening of surface eye tissue.

Intacs are safe and have received promising clinical results. Studies show that Intacs help about a half of keratoconus patients restore 20/40 uncorrected vision. There is also evidence showing that Intacs are effective in treating keratoconus patients with irregular astigmatism and single segment Intacs are more effective than double segment Intacs.

Intacs correct myopia by flattening the cornea to refocus light rays. Clinical trials report that Intacs help more than 94% of myopic people restore 20/40 vision, although nearly 39% of the total chose to remove the implants due various reasons. There are no serious complications caused by Intacs implants.