Lens Implants with Labels!

When we ophthalmologists take cataracts out of people’s eyes, we replace them with artificial lens implants. They are intraocular lenses, often abbreviated “IOLs.” Most of the time, in order to know what type of lens implant has been placed (since there are different manufacturers), we go by the appearance of the IOL. Sometimes, it is hard to tell which IOL it is because a lot of them look the same. Recently, I was made aware that there was one IOL manufacturer that used to label the lens implants! That way, we can look into the eye and see the company that made the lens implant and the power of the lens implant. This is not common with today’s IOLs, but I thought it was pretty cool to see that at least one company had that idea.