Floating surgical technique secures artificial iris

Iris tissue loss due to trauma, iatrogenic cause, or congenital absence such as aniridia or coloboma can result in photophobia, loss of depth perception, contrast sensitivity degradation, glare, decreased visual acuity and multiplopia. In aniridia cases, Wilms tumor should be investigated because the aniridia incidence is one in 70 children with Wilms tumor.While smaller iris defects can be closed with sutures, large amounts of iris tissue loss often require a cosmetic colored contact lens with a pupil or an artificial iris. None of the cosmetic iris implants are currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and implantation requires receiving a compassionate use exemption. For artificial iris implantation, the patient should be symptomatic and unable to become asymptomatic with tinted glasses or contact lenses. An artificial iris is not to be used for the sole purpose of changing iris color. Types of artificial iris implantation include capsular bag seating, sulcus fixation or attachment to residual iris remnants. Artificial irises are made by HumanOptics, Morcher and Ophtec and consist of either silicone or PMMA material. A silicone artificial iris can be foldable. Intracapsular placement is combined with a capsular tension ring to prevent or minimize potential capsular shrinkage and misalignment and distortion of the implanted artificial iris.