Dr. John Jarstad, M.D. Implants First nanoFLEX™ Artificial Lens

FEDERAL WAY, Wash., Jan. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- John S. Jarstad, M.D., of Evergreen Eye Center, has implanted the first FDA-approved nanoFLEX™ artificial lens in Washington State.

The nanoFLEX™ lens offers a new surgical treatment for patients with cataracts and presbyopia. Simple, biocompatible, and minimally invasive, the nanoFLEX™ lens represents a major advance in corrective eye surgery.

Dr. Jarstad performed the procedure on January 4, 2011. "Our first patient was pretty typical for today's state-of-the-art cataract surgery," he says. "She had recently retired but still did quite a bit of driving at night. After a few close calls on I-5 she realized her night driving was terrible due to all the glare and that's what brought her in to her eye doctor. He diagnosed cataracts and sent her right over for a surgery consultation. Her surgery went really well, and she was able to go skiing one week later -- with just her goggles."

Traditionally, patients with cataracts would be given a monofocal intraocular lens (IOL), eliminating the cataract and offering improved long-distance vision. However, patients would still need to wear glasses for reading. Newer devices -- "premium" IOLs -- might additionally correct the eye's ability to focus at multiple ranges. Even so, these premium IOLs were silicon or acrylic based, and were more brittle and more frequently rejected by the body's immune system.

Approved by the FDA in June 2009, nanoFLEX™ is a collamer, aspheric single-piece IOL. Manufactured by Staar Surgical Company, it is designed to reduce aberration and improve contrast sensitivity better than previous models. The collamer lens is specially designed to be more flexible and accepted by the body as a natural replacement for a human crystalline lens.

Only a few thousand nanoFLEX™ implantations have been performed since they went on the market. Dr. Jarstad is no stranger to pioneering medical procedures. The Tacoma native and Curtis High School graduate was the first eye surgeon in Washington State to use a foldable artificial lens (1987) and the first to perform cataract operations without stitches (1990). Dr. Robert A. Tester and Dr. Gary W. Chung, also of Evergreen Eye Center, will be using the nanoFLEX™ lens in the near future.

SOURCE Evergreen Eye Center