The State of OVDs
Based on a roundtable discussion held at the 2009 American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting in San Francisco, CA, USA

When I consider how far weʼve come in cataract surgery today, in all candor, I think more important than foldable IOLs—perhaps even more important than phaco—is the advent of the OVD.

When I started implanting lenses, we did not have OVDs at all. We could not implant successfully in a number of patients without actually extracting vitreous. We would take a 22-gauge needle, pierce it through the pars plana, and aspirate vitreous in order to make room to implant a lens. As a result, the complication rates were a concern, and very few surgeons could accomplish lens implantation in a significant percentage of their patients.