Presbyopia

The first monograph dedicated to a surgical topic
The third monograph of the Italian Ophthalmologist deals with a chapter, Presbyopia from the temporal lens to the intraocular lens, making it the first in the collection dedicated to a surgical topic.

The subject of presbyopia is a top ten in the great international scientific discussion.

Presbyopia in fact means not so much a problem of old age, but perhaps rather the desire to remain young.
And so, in the field of spectacle lenses, companies have developed new products to meet the needs of the professional as well as the common man, creating special and specific optical solutions that are introducing the concept of customisation also in the world of eyewear.
On the semeiological and diagnostic front, on the other hand, it is possible to assess a patient's visual function, not only in a quantitative sense, but mainly in a qualitative sense, which also has a logical and physiological rationale.
Subjecting a patient to surgery or laser treatment to produce a functional result that is not only unintended, but mainly disappointing, would in fact trigger complex mechanisms in the patient himself.
Finally, laser techniques and lens surgery are getting better and better every day, and thus, with a variety of choices of intraocular lenses or laser treatment modalities, it is possible to produce a presbyopia correction that can now also meet those functional needs from half distance, such as a PC screen.
Even in this purely surgical field, many companies have introduced various and articulated solutions using either diffractive or refractive lenses or a combination thereof, or even single vision accommodative lenses.
An Italian research project has recently developed an intraocular lens with functional characteristics of a multifocal IOL that excellently solves some of the problems of anti-presbyopia IOLs, such as: quantity and quality of vision, distance of use, elimination of secondary optical effects, ....
The intuition behind this research project was to start with real physical optics concepts and to gradually incorporate them as technical characteristics of the intraocular lens that was eventually realised. The first results are encouraging. Large-scale follow-ups will confirm this.
As Coordinator of the Monograph, I feel it is my duty to reiterate my heartfelt thanks to all the authors and co-authors for accomplishing the task entrusted to them in record time (only 45 days).
The entire practical realisation of the volume was then handled by Carmelo Chines, Editor-in-Chief of the Italian Ophthalmologist, and the editorial staff, who in Ada Puglisi and their graphic designer were the realisers of the actual layout.
Sifi MedTech, the group's new company dedicated to the marketing of surgical devices, has taken on the task of completing the workforce and will further promote distribution throughout Italy.

Vittorio Picardo
Chief Ophthalmologist
Rome