About Verisyse

The Verisyse™ Phakic IOL is used to treat moderate to severe myopia, the medical term for nearsightedness. With over 18 years of use and 150,000 procedures performed worldwide, results prove that the Verisyse™ design is safe and effective for very nearsighted people who are tired of thick glasses and are not candidates for Custom LASIK.

How Verisyse Works

Dr. Brint will place the Verisyse Phakic IOL behind your cornea and on top of your iris. This gives your eye another focusing lens that provides high-quality, high-definition vision like a normal eye. The word "phakic" means that your natural crystalline lens is left in the eye. This is important because your natural lens plays an important role in helping your eye adjust between seeing objects that are near and far. Although the Verisyse Phakic IOL is intended to be permanent, the procedure is reversible if desired.

Are You a Verisyse Candidate?

A series of tests performed in our office will help you decide if the Verisyse™ procedure is right for you. In general, the requirements for Verisyse are:

• Your eyes are healthy with no eye disease, iris, pupil or corneal abnormality, or history of retinal detachment.
• Your nearsightedness can be corrected with lenses between -5.0 to -20.0 diopters.
• You have 2.5 diopters or less of astigmatism.
• Your eyes are stable and your nearsightedness has not changed more than 0.50 diopters for 6 months prior to surgery.
• You are not currently pregnant or nursing.

How Effective is the Verisyse Lens?

Patients who choose the Verisyse lens usually have been frustrated with glasses and contacts for a very long time. Their degree of near-sightedness is such that it was often difficult for them to be fitted with glasses or contacts. FDA trial data indicates the vision improvement with Verisyse is substantial. This chart shows the vision Verisyse patients have in their first implanted eye at 3 years post-op without the use of any glasses or contacts.

Does the Effect Last?

The correction provided by Verisyse has proven effective over time. More than 30% of patients were best-corrected to 20/20 vision after Verisyse than before they had surgery. The vision provided by Verisyse improved rapidly, and did not vary with any statistical significance after that initial post-operative period.

How Does Verisyse Compare With LASIK?

Verisyse clinical investigators conducted a randomized comparison of Verisyse with LASIK in myopic patients correcting between -9D and -19.5D of nearsightedness. (El Danasoury MA, et al. Ophthalmology. 2002;109:955-964) Sixty-one patients (90 eyes) were studies with a mean refraction of -13.5D. 30% of patients received the Verisyse in one eye and LASIK in the other eye.

Results provided in the table below demonstrate that both patient groups ended with similar refractions post-operatively, varying from Plano to -1D, a significant improvement from the -13.5D pre-operatively. However, the extreme flattening of the cornea that occurs with LASIK has caused surgeon-concern about vision quality post-LASIK. As demonstrated in the chart below, patients with extreme nearsightedness did better with Verisyse in their visual acuity, lines of vision gained, and minimal loss of contrast sensititivy.

	Verisyse n=43	LASIK n=41
Mean Post-Op Refraction (SE)	-0.64 +/- 0.8D	-0.87 +/- 0.8D
Uncorrected Visual Acuity, % 20/20 or better	21%	12%
Uncorrected Visual Acuity, % 20/40 or better	88%	58%
Loss of 2 or more lines of Best Corrected Vision	0%	15%
Gain of 2 or more lines of Best Corrected Vision	16%	2%
Decrease in contrast sensitivity of 2 or more lines	5%	15%

About the Verisyse™ procedure

Implanting the Verisyse™ Phakic IOL is an outpatient procedure that takes around 15 to 30 minutes. Usually, one eye is treated at a time.

1. Drops will be placed in your eyes in order to reduce the pupil size.
2. Dr. Brint will use an instrument to comfortably hold your eyelids open during the procedure.
3. A local anesthetic is given to numb your eye, so the procedure is virtually painless.
4. A small incision is made in the cornea for the Verisyse™ Phakic IOL to be placed in the space between the iris and the cornea.
5. The Verisyse Phakic IOL is centered in front of the pupil (the black part in the center of your eye), and is gently attached to the iris (the colored part of your eye) to hold the lens in place.
6. The small incision is closed with microscopic stitches that dissolve on their own.
7. A temporary shield will be placed over your eye to protect it during the time just after the procedure.

How Verisyse™ looks in your eye

Diagram of an eye with the Verisyse™ Phakic IOL.