The replacement procedure of diseased or damaged natural eye lenses by artificial intraocular lenses (IOLs) requires an incision in the eye of just 2 – 3 millimeters. IOLs are manufactured using soft polymers that can be folded or rolled into a cartridge and delivered into the eye through a narrow tube. These advantageous deformational properties have a drawback in that they are inherently tacky causing unfolding issues inside the eye. Plasma surface modification of IOLs removes the surface tack, ensuring safe insertion and automatic unfolding of the IOL to its original configuration once inside the eye.
Gas plasma depyrogenation is a powerful and safe method of significantly reducing the presence of surface bound endotoxins. Low temperature (<60oC) plasma discharge has demonstrated >3 log count reductions of surface immobilized endotoxin (Pyrogens) bioactivity. Plasma is a dry process that eliminates the liabilities of wet cleaning and is a technique that can be easily implemented in cleaning practices for intraocular devices and related surgical instruments.
Gas plasma treatment of intraocular lenses is an ideal method for immobilizing bio-molecules such as heparin.
The optic portion of IOLs are lathed into shape. this results in a spiral pattern of machining lines from the center of the lens out towards the edges. These machining lines are traditionally removed by an extensive polishing procedure, however plasma surface treatment can readily remove these machining lines in a simple, dry processing step.
