Rather than reinventing the PanOptix platform, Alcon’s latest iteration focuses on refining how light is used. Clareon PanOptix Pro increases light utilization from 88% to 94% and, according to Alcon’s bench and vision-simulator data, reducing light scatter by half for uninterrupted light distribution across the full visual range.
At the recent ESCRS Congress in London, we caught up with Victor Duran, VP of Surgical International Marketing at Alcon, who explained what has changed, why those changes matter, and where presbyopia-correcting IOL technology may be heading next.
Why did Alcon decide to redesign PanOptix, and what did you most want to improve?
Victor Duran: At Alcon, we are always trying to push the boundaries of what we already have. Clareon PanOptix has established a strong clinical track record and is one of the most widely implanted trifocal lenses globally. Our responsibility is to ask how we can take a product that is already performing well and make it even better.
We challenged our R&D teams to identify areas where there was still room for improvement. What they found was that, as with any diffractive IOL, some light is lost to scatter rather than being utilized to support the range of vision. With PanOptix, light utilization is 88%, meaning around 12% is lost to scatter, even though this represented the best that could be achieved for this category of product at the time.
Through advances in material science, manufacturing precision, and very small changes to the optical step heights – less than half a micron – the team was able to improve the way the lens manages light. With Clareon PanOptix Pro, we were able to recapture half of that previously scattered light and redirect it into areas that support the range of vision. That brings light utilization up to 94%.
What do the higher light utilization and reduced scatter mean in practical terms for surgeons and patients?
We have bench testing and virtual simulation data showing that when you utilize some of that light that would otherwise be lost to scatter, you can improve image contrast.
What we have primarily done is recapture some of that energy and redirect it to the region between distance and intermediate vision. The bench data suggest that this improves image contrast at distance and at far intermediate – around one meter. In a situation like this conversation, for example, that is the distance at which you are looking at somebody’s face and interacting with them.
More broadly, if you have more light available across the visual range and less of it being lost to scatter, the aim is to improve the optical performance of the lens while retaining the range of vision patients expect from PanOptix.
Does PanOptix Pro change the traditional trade-off between range of vision and image quality?
People often say there is “no free lunch in optics” – if you change one thing, something else usually has to give.
What we are seeing here, though, is how improvements in manufacturing capabilities can change that equation. Our manufacturing has become extremely precise, allowing us to reproduce in the physical IOL much more closely to its intended design. That precision enables very small optical changes that can have a meaningful effect on light utilization.
Importantly, the goal was not to change the established visual performance profile of Clareon PanOptix. We already have a lens with strong clinical experience and patient satisfaction, so the first criterion was to preserve that. We did not want to compromise the visual acuity or range of vision already associated with PanOptix.
Instead, these improvements in manufacturing and optical design allowed us to take light that was previously not being utilized and put more of it to work. That is really the key advance – improving light utilization without intentionally trading away the existing PanOptix visual profile.
What does PanOptix Pro tell us about where presbyopia-correcting IOLs are heading next?
Our goal in presbyopia correction is to find solutions that give patients the maximum useful range of vision with the minimum amount of compromise.
There are different ways to approach that. Diffractive optics are one route, and with PanOptix Pro we have been able to further refine that approach. But there are also opportunities to explore different optical designs and technologies that try to achieve the same broader objective.
Clareon Vivity is a good example from the non-diffractive side. Its optical design aims to minimize visual disturbances, although there is a different balance in terms of range of vision compared with a trifocal lens.
That is why having a portfolio matters. It allows surgeons to select the optical strategy they believe is most appropriate for an individual patient – whether that is a full-range diffractive lens or a non-diffractive option – with the overarching goal of providing as much useful vision as possible while minimizing trade-offs.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
We are also very proud to be launching Clareon TruPlus, our enhanced monofocal and toric IOL. It is intended for patients who may not be candidates for a presbyopia-correcting IOL but for whom we still want to offer some additional depth of focus without compromising distance vision.
Ultimately, the objective is to give surgeons more options so that they can choose the lens technology that best matches each patient’s visual needs and expectations.
