Alta Eficacia Method certifies that the lenses bearing this accreditation of guarantee are fitted with a special filter that prevents violet light reaching the eye to protect against the appearance of avoidable blindness. This lens was invented by the Spanish scientist Dr. Celia Sánchez-Ramos, who was awarded the prize for the best invention of the year by the World Organization of Intellectual Property.
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Alta Eficacia Method - Filter
The lenses accredited by Método Alta Eficacia have a filter that prevents passage of part of the spectrum of blue and violet light, that is hoped to protect the user against avoidable blindness from age-related macular degeneration.
There is conflicting evidence as to whether exposure to sunlight contributes to the development of macular degeneration. A recent study in the British Journal of Ophthalmology on 446 subjects found that it does not. Other research, however, has shown that high-energy visible light (HEV) may contribute to age-related macular degeneration.
Alta Eficacia Tecnología is the owning firm of the patent Therapeutic Contact Lens for Pseudophakic Eyes and/or Eyes Suffering Neurodegeneration, which is claimed may provide protection against avoidable blindness, developed by Celia Sánchez-Ramos.
Clinical Trials
The method consists of a lens that, despite its yellow colour (intensity can be adjusted according to the state of the retina), does not affect the colour perception of the user, nor the colour of the users eyes according to the results of a study performed on 2,000 persons. In addition, it improves contrast sensitivity in the dark although its objective is to protect the retina over the person’s lifetime.
Before filing the patent, both in Spain and the United States, experiments were conducted in mice exposed to different types of light to analyze the damage produced.
In other experiments, pigmented rabbits were subjected to cataract surgery to examine the effects of light in these conditions. Next, the new lenses were prepared to test their efficiency in animals, and it was found that the genes that protect the retina are overexpressed when this protection is in place, while genes causing cell death (and blindness) were overexpressed in the absence of this protection.
Clinical trials are currently underway by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid at 23 hospitals on persons who are undergoing cataract surgery. When results become available, we will be able to confirm if these intraocular lenses may act as a protection factor against the development of AMD.