Cataract is one of the elderly diseases caused by physical aging, which is a representative disease of the population in their 50s and older around the world. In case of cataract patients, blurry crystalline lens is removed, and intraocular lens (hereinafter IOL) is inserted to cure. Recently, multifocal IOL which can simultaneously correct presbyopia is mainly used.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the average annual growth rate of the domestic multifocal IOL market over the past four years has been 65.13%, relying on imports in all.

Amidst this situation, Hanyang University announced on the November 7 that a Professor Song Seok-ho's joint research team of the Department of Physics at Hanyang University has recently developed a new multifocal IOL to cure cataract and presbyopia.

The commercialization technology minimizes visual blur, a major problem of multifocal IOL products developed by global companies such as Alcon and Johnson And Johnson (J&J). It can make an extension of focal depth that provides better short-long distance view and continuous views. It is also expected to compete with products of global companies with its outstanding technology.

The most ideal multifocal IOL is to simultaneously support short-range, mid-range, and long-distance views without serious complications. Most of the pre-released multifocal IOLs are mainly diffracted or focal depth-expanded products with fine uneven structures on the lens surface, and patients' satisfaction is reduced due to severe visual disturbances such as light smudging, night vision blur, and posterior capsule opacity (PCO).

To solve this problem, the research team developed a new multifocal IOL that removes the uneven structure of the lens surface and inserted a uniform special geometric-phase layer, (GP lens layer) inside the lens. This allowed them to see short-range, medium-range, and long-distance images with little light smudging and much clearer at the same time.

Professor Song said, "Unlike the pre-existing light-diffraction approach, the GP (Geometric-phase) lens layer IOL can reduce light loss to less than 3%, create a number of focuses on desired locations, or apply focal depth expansion," adding, "We will strive to develop economical and outstanding multifocal IOLs that can compete with global products as well as localize them by through the in-school laboratory startup Tigernix."

Meanwhile, the study was conducted with Tigernix Co., Koryoeyetech, The Catholic University of Korea Yeouido St. Mary's Ophthalmic clinic, and Seoul Eye Clinic, which was published in the latest issue of "Light Science & Application (IF = 17.78), a world-class journal in optical science field.