Tech developments gain ground

As leading cataract surgeons reflect on the newest advances in the field over the past year, the femtosecond laser maintained its place in the spotlight. However, developments in IOLs, diagnostics technology, and intraoperative guidance tools had a prominent role as well.

"At the 2011 Refractive Surgery Subspecialty Day meeting [of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO)], audience members were presented [with] a multiple-choice question asking about their biggest fear in ophthalmology, and an overwhelming majority answered it was dealing with unhappy [patients with premium lenses]," said Dr. Osher, professor of ophthalmology, University of Cincinnati, OH, and medical director emeritus, Cincinnati Eye Institute. "The introduction of better diagnostics is progress toward addressing this issue and is going to be the key to the future acceptance of advanced IOLs."

Dr. Osher; Dr. Lane; Randall J. Olson, MD, The John A. Moran Presidential Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; and Mark Packer, MD, clinical associate professor of ophthalmology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, spoke about recent progress and the future of cataract surgery.