New Zealand consultant ophthalmologist Dr Dean Corbett has successfully implanted the Samsara Vision’s SING IMT (smaller-incision new-generation implantable miniature telescope) in a patient with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Inspired by a Galilean intraocular telescope, the SING IMT is designed to improve visual acuity and quality of life for patients with late-stage AMD, Dr Corbett explained. By reducing the impact of central scotoma (the characteristic ‘blind spot’ in the middle of an AMD patient’s vision), it aids patients with reading, knitting, gardening and identifying human faces – essentially reconnecting them to their former life, he said.
The operation was performed at the Southern Lakes Eye Care and Surgery in Queenstown on a 79-year-old woman who had already had lens replacement surgery in her other eye to improve peripheral vision. Implantation of the SING IMT, in conjunction with cataract surgery, went smoothly, Dr Corbett said. “The patient is doing well; post surgery she had no pain and blurry vision. When I saw her on day one post-op her eye was comfortable with normal IOP.”
