Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is a leading cause of visual
loss in adults older than 60 years.1 Once
central vision has been seriously jeopardized, visual function can only be
improved with optical devices that produce magnification of near and distant
images. Koziol et al2 reported the use of
a teledioptric lens implant with a high-minus central zone (2.5 mm). When
this implant is used in combination with eyeglasses as part of a teledioptric
system, the magnified visual field obtained is 2.6 times greater than that
achieved using an external telescope (magnification power, ×3; focusing
distance, 50 cm; magnification power with the aid of external spectacles,
×8; visual field, 6, 6° equivalent to 20° in the retina). However,
the disadvantages found when a combined telescopic system is used still occur.
The implantable miniaturized telescope (IMT) (VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies
Ltd, Yehud, Israel) designed by Lipshitz et al3
should partially prevent the discomfort involved when an external or partially
external telescope is used. The IMT is mounted on an intraocular lens implant
and consists of a glass Galilean telescope (4.4 mm long and 3.2 mm in diameter)
installed in a hole centered in a plate-design polymethyl methacrylate intraocular
lens (7.0 × 4.75 mm) (Figure 1).
The total diameter of the device is 13.5 mm. Implantation of the IMT is performed
by widening up to 8 mm the incision after lens phacoemulsification with scleral
incision and capsulorrhexis, which theoretically ensures the intracapsular
implantation and thus stability and adequate position of the IMT.