JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Every year, 2.5 million people suffer some kind of eye injury. More than 50 percent of those injuries happen before age 25. If the iris, or the color part of your eye, is damaged, it can lead to a lifetime of double vision, blurriness and in rare cases, blindness.

Now, a new kind of prosthesis is helping eye injury patients who have run out of options.

It's construction manager Don Davis's job to focus on the details. But for the past 30 years, that's been difficult. He's missing part of his right eye, damaged by a direct hit from a racquetball.

"One of the things that happened during the trauma was that I lost my iris," Davis said. "My iris drew back, and my eye was one large, black pupil."

"The iris is what makes the pupil smaller or larger, so it acts like the shutter for the eye," Amit Chokshi, M.D., an ophthalmologist at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla., explained.

Everything Davis saw had a glare, halo around it, or he saw double. Sunglasses and colored contact lenses weren’t enough.

"If you can imagine someone taking a flashlight and turning it on and just sticking it in your eye and you get kind of sensitive, it was that, all the time," Davis recalled.

Doctors suggested an artificial iris.

"It’s about nine millimeters in width, and only four millimeters actually allows light to get in, so less than 50 percent of the device lets light in," Dr. Chokshi said.

This prosthetic iris is custom color-matched to the patient’s healthy eye. In surgery, it’s implanted through a nine-millimeter incision between the white of the eye and the cornea. In don’s case, a lens was added to help improve his vision.

"The sun is much better, as you can imagine," Davis said. "It’s not nearly as blinding as it was."

With the iris implant providing an extra layer of protection, Davis is seeing his world in a whole new light.

The artificial iris is still investigational, but more than 100 people have received the implants under a compassionate use FDA trial. Studies are near completion, but the device has not received FDA approval. Patients who benefit from the artificial iris fall into two main categories: people who were born without an iris and those whose iris is damaged or destroyed in some sort of traumatic injury.

This experimental iris implant is only done for therapeutic purposes. Once it’s in, doctors say it can last a lifetime.

BACKGROUND: The eyes are one of the most sensitive places in the human body. We are only given two, and replacing them isn't an easy task. According to the United States Eye Injury Registry, there are approximately 2.5 million eye injuries each year. Furthermore, it is estimated that 55 percent of all eye injuries take place before the age of 25. About 160,000 school-aged children suffer from an eye injury every year. Additionally, more than 1 million people, ages 40 and older, are legally blind in the U.S., according to Vision Problems in the U.S. reports.

PREVENTION: Ninety percent of eye injuries could be prevented if individuals wore the appropriate protective eyewear, according to MedicineNet. MedicineNet also provides some useful tips when it comes to daily activities and the eyes. When using household cleaners, always work in a well-ventilated area and spray products away from you. Many products are so potent that even the slightest bit could destroy the surface of the eye and cause blindness. When in a workshop, you should always wear protective eyewear that will shield the eyes from flying objects and debris. Similarly, when working in the garden, it is also important to wear protective eyewear, especially when cutting the grass or trimming hedges. Many times, rocks, stones and other debris fly up and can land in your eye. Probably one of the most dangerous ways you can hurt your eyes, which many people do not consider, is when working around a car. Battery acids, sparks, and debris are just a few of the dangers that could damage the eyes.

ARTIFICIAL IRIS: Amit Chokshi, M.D., is one of the first doctors in the United States to surgically reconstruct the eye with an artificial iris. The Ophten model 311 reconstructive lens is used for treatment of visual disturbances, such as abnormal sensitivity to light that is related to partial or total absence of the iris. The artificial iris is particularly helpful to patients who have lost all or part of their iris from trauma and/or those who lack iris pigmentation due to congenital albinism. Each lens is made from clear and colored ultraviolet, light-absorbing material and is available in natural shades of brown, blue or green. Patients who undergo the procedure experience an improvement in vision.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Kristen Pritchard, Refractive Coordinator
Office of Dr. Amit Chokshi
Jacksonville, FL
Kristen@seeclearjax.com
SeeClearJax.com