New study on Blue Blocker implants

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

There have been seveeral questions on both forums recently about BLUE BLOCKING IOLS. The question are they better or worse than clear IOLs.  About 1/4 of IOLs are blue blockers. A new review of the subject was in the medical journal OPHTHALMOLOGY   volume 118, number 1 January 2011  "Blue blocking IOLs vs short wave length visible light: hypothesis based vs evidence based medical practice. Drs. Martin Mainster PhD MD and Pat Turner MD.

Short summary Dr. Mainster a world authority does not feel that there is evidence that yellow IOLs offter any extra help and may affect color perception, dark vision, etc.

JHC MD

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I have the study at the office. I'll see if I can get it to you.  BTW Dr. Mainster's PhD is in physics and Dr. Turner is his wife.

JCH MD

[JodieJ]

I googled, and it appears that Dr. Mainster has been writing about the evils of blue-light blocking for several years now.  An article in the April 2010 issue of Retina Today states that he is a consultant for AMO.

[JodieJ]

Wow, I wish that I had access to the full text of that study.  If it is truly independent research  (i.e., Dr. Mainster is not a paid consultant for AMO, Alcon's main competitor), it is an amazing finding.  As I recall from my own review of the literature back in 2006, Alcon's claims about the merits of their blue-light filtration feature (i.e., protection against macular degeneration) seemed to be based entirely on weak correlation evidence that was not supported by subsequent research.  At the time, I actually wondered whether that yellow tint was just a ploy dreamed up by someone in Alcon's marketing department to increase their market share.  On the other hand, the unsupported claims by AMO's paid consultants that the yellow tint would disrupt sleep cycles and cause night blindness seemed to me to be equally lacking in merit.  (Where was their evidence to back up these claims?)

I've lived with yellow-tinted IOLs for over four years, and one of my eyes did not have a cataract at the time an Alcon AcrySof IQ was implanted.  I could detect no difference in color perception after surgery, and my night vision actually seemed to improve a little (presumably as the result of the aspheric feature of the AcrySof IQ).  I've mentioned previously that the intensity of the yellow tint varies with the power of the Alcon IOL:  powers to correct very farsighted eyes have the most intense yellow tint (and presumably offer the most protection against macular degeneration), and those to correct very nearsighted eyes have the least tint.  Perhaps I avoided problems because I was a high myope.

In any case, I expect that there will soon be lots of published research by Alcon's paid consultants that refutes Dr. Mainster's findings.