Purpose: To assess the efficacy of the Toric Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) to treat moderate to high myopic astigmatism.
Design: Prospective nonrandomized clinical trial.
Participants: Two hundred ten eyes of 124 patients with between 2.38 and 19.5 diopters (D) of myopia (spherical equivalent [SE]) and 1 to 4 D of astigmatism participating in the United States Food and Drug Administration clinical trial of the Toric ICL.
Intervention: Implantation of the Toric ICL.
Main outcome measures: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), refraction, best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), adverse events, and postoperative complications.
Results: At 12 months postoperatively, the proportion of eyes with 20/20 or better UCVA (83.1%) was identical to the proportion of eyes with preoperative 20/20 or better BSCVA (83.1%); 76.5% had postoperative UCVA better than or equal to preoperative BSCVA. The mean manifest refractive cylinder dropped from 1.93 D (+/-0.84) at baseline to 0.51 D (+/-0.48) postoperatively, a 73.6% decrease in astigmatism. Although only 21.0% of eyes had 1-D refractive cylinder preoperatively (none less), 91.4% of cases had < or =1 D of cylinder postoperatively. Furthermore, 65.6% had < or =0.5 D and 40.9% had < or =0.25 D of refractive cylinder postoperatively. Mean manifest refraction SE (MRSE) improved from -9.36 D (+/-2.66) preoperatively to 0.05 D (+/-0.46) postoperatively. A total of 76.9% of eyes were predicted accurately to within +/-0.5 D, 97.3% to within +/-1.0 D, and 100% to within +/-2.0 D of predicted MRSE. Postoperatively, 37.6% of eyes had a BSCVA of 20/12.5 or better, compared with a preoperative level of 4.8%. Furthermore, BSCVA of 20/20 or better occurred in 96.8% postoperatively, compared with 83.1% preoperatively. Mean improvement in BSCVA was 0.88 lines; there were 3 cases (1.6%) that lost > or =2 lines of BSCVA after 12 months postoperatively, whereas 18.9% of cases improved by > or =2 lines. A total of 76.4% of cases gained > or =1 lines of BSCVA, whereas only 7.5% of cases lost the equivalent amount. Three ICL removals were performed without significant loss of BSCVA, and 1 clinically significant lens opacity was observed.
Conclusion: The results support the efficacy and predictability of Toric ICL implantation to treat moderate to high myopic astigmatism. Important safety concerns were not identified.