All authors are employed by Perfect Lens, LLC and have a financial interest in the products of Perfect Lens, LLC.

Consistent and precise power changes can be induced in the optic of commercially available IOLs in vivo by using a femtosecond laser to create a refractive-index shaping lens. The laser treatment of the IOLs was biocompatible.

Abstract:The chemical basis for the alteration of the refractive properties of an intraocular lens with a femtosecond laser was investigated. Three different microscope setups have been used for the study: Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) microscopy, Raman microscopy and coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) microscopy. Photo-induced hydrolysis of polymeric material in aqueous media produces two hydrophilic functional groups: acid group and alcohol group. The spectral signatures identify two of the hydrophilic polar molecules as N-phenyl-4-(phenylazo)-benzenamine (C 18 H 15 N 3 ) and phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (C 13 H 8 N 2 O 2 ). The change in hydrophilicity results in a negative refractive index change in the laser-treated areas.

Power adjustment of a commercially available hydrophobic acrylic blue light-filtering IOL by a femtosecond laser produced an accurate change in dioptric power while not significantly affecting the quality of the IOL.