Design and fabrication of accommodating fluidic intraocular lens

Intraocular lens (IOL) is a replacement lens for patients with crystalline lens problems. One key problem for today's IOL is its limited ability to retain the original accommodation capability inherent to human eyes. Unlike conventional optical lenses, a bio-inspired fluidic lens changes the curvature of the lens under an external force, resulting in a lens tuning power about 5 times as large as the current devices. By mimicking this desirable feature, a fluidic intraocular lens can achieve a large accommodation range as well. The device is designed that the lens can fully utilize the ciliary muscle force and the deformation of capsular bag during accommodation. Experimental results on fluidic IOL demonstrated a record high 12 Diopter (D) tuning range with a movement around its equator as small as 0.3 mm, achieved under a modest amount of force of 6 grams or 0.06 Newtons. The tuning range of the bio-inspired fluidic lens is comparable to a young, healthy eye, but the force and the movement required for ciliary muscle in order to achieve the wide accommodation range is comparable to an aged eye.