Multipartite intraocular lens

• US 4,693,716 A
• Filed: 08/21/1984
• Issued: 09/15/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/1984
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alcon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Richard J. Mackool
• Inventors: Mackool, Richard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Millin, V.
• Application Number:
  US06/643,030
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: 623/6
• US Class Current: 623/6.19
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/1616 Pseudo-accommodative, e.g. multifocal or enabling monovision

Abstract

An intracular lens implant including a lens centered on a lens axis and the lens body having a plurality of separate sections to permit initial separate introduction of the respective sections into the eyeball through an incision smaller than that which would be needed for the introduction of the complete lens body. Means are provided for holding the assembled lens body in a predetermined position in the eye. One of the sections is substantially C-shaped and another is a substantially circular section, with each of these sections having surfaces which face one another, and means are provided to hold the sections relative to each other.

Claims

1. An intraocular lens implant, comprising:

(a) a lens body centered on a lens axis and extending along a plane normal to said lens axis, said lens body including a plurality of separate sections each of which has at least one dimension as considered along said plane which is a fraction of the diameter of said lens body to permit initial separate introduction of the respective sections into the eyeball through an incision smaller than that which would be needed for the introduction of the complete lens body, followed by subsequent assembly of said sections within the eyeball into the lens body,

(b) means for holding the assembled lens body in a predetermined position in the eyeball,

(c) one of said sections being a substantially C-shaped peripheral section and another one of said sections is a substantially circular central section at least partially circumferentially surrounded by said peripheral section in the assembled condition of said lens body,

(d) said peripheral and central sections having respective internal and external surfaces which face one another in the assembled condition of said lens body, one of said surfaces being provided with at least one projection and the other of said surfaces having at least one recess which receives said projection in the assembled condition of said lens body to hold said central section in a predetermined position relative to said peripheral section, and

(e) said projection being configured as a substantially circumferentially extending rib, and said recess being configurated as a substantially circumferentially extending groove.

2. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 1, wherein said lens body further includes an additional peripheral section separate from and substantially complementary to said peripheral section.

7. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 2, wherein said additional peripheral section is separate from said central section and further comprising means for connecting said additional peripheral section to the remainder of said lens body in the assembled condition of the latter.

8. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 7, wherein said connecting means includes cooperating male and female connecting portions provided on said sections and engaging one another with a snap action.

9. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 1, wherein at leat one of asid sections has an engaging recess which opens on a surface of said one section that constitutes a part of the periphery of said lens body in the assembled condition of the latter, for engagement by a handling tool during the introduction of said one section into the eyeball and/or its assembly with the remainder of said lens body.

10. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 9, wherein said engaging recess has a substantially dovetail-shaped configuration.

3. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 21, wherein said additional peripheral section is integral with said central section.

4. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 3, wherein said peripheral section has end portions which accommodate said additional peripheral section between themselves, said end portions and said additional peripheral section being provided with substantially complementarily configured locking bulges and depressions which receive said bulges in the assembled condition of said lens body.

5. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 4, wherein said bulges are provided on said end portions and said depressions in said additional peripheral section.

6. The intraocular lens implant as defined in claim 5, wherein said bulges are configurated to form a smooth transition at the outer periphery of at last one of said end portions of said peripheral section.

11. The method of inserting an intraocular lens having a central section, one peripheral section adapted to suround and engage the majority of, but less than all of, the perphery of the central section, and where the diameter of the central section is less than the diameter of the central section and peripheral sections when the aforesaid sections are assembled toegether, comprising the steps of:

(a) making an incision in the eyeball substantially equal to the diameter of the lens central section,

(b) inserting the lens central section into the posterior chamber of the eyeball,

(c) then inserting a peripheral section through the incision,

(d) positioning the inserted peripheral section adjacent the inserted central section,

(e) repeating steps (c) and (d) above for each additional peripheral section that is employed, and

(f) engaging such peripheral section and the central section, and wherein only one peripheral section is employed, and wherein the incision is made on the bias, and wherein one of the central sections and the peripheral section have a V-shaped edge and the other section has a V-shaped groove, and wherein the peripheral section surrounds more than 180 degrees but less than 360 degrees of the periphery of the central section, and further comprising the step of snap fitting the central section into the peripheral section by expanding the peripheral section to permit insertion and engagement of the central section by the peripheral section.