Originally the idea of Dr. Dante Luis Buosanti, an ophthalmologist working in Argentina, who, in 2019, was growing increasingly frustrated with the amount of time he was having to spend inputting formulae manually into devices. Equipment would need updates with the latest formulae at certain intervals, and this also was a manual process. If a calculation is off, it has serious implications for a patient post-surgery, so it is crucial surgeons can trust the calculations and results they are using for the operations. Other surgeons had shared their own calculators online to help the ophthalmology community with achieving good results for their patients, but these were all disparate and not easily comparable. Dr. Buosanti approached one of the leading calculator creators Dr. Hoffer to collaborate on creating a platform that would bring together the top IOL calculators to optimise this process and enable surgeons to easily compare results. As this idea needed wider support, an association was pitched the concept but sadly they declined but that didn’t stop the two from pursuing another route via ESCRS to support the development. ESCRS saw the impact such a tool could have for the community and backed the project, enlisting help from their members and strategic partners, with work commencing on the IOL Calculator in November 2020.
Dr. Buosanti continues to play a key role, collaborating with ESCRS board members Oliver Findl [past president] and Filomena Ribeiro [current president], along with the support of Adi Abulafia, Miguel Raimundo and Giacomo Savini. The IOL Committee is made up of 6 advisors, and 1 Developer. Their expertise enhanced the calculator’s value and continues to do so.
Here are the key features and benefits:
- Aggregates Multiple Calculators: The calculator combines results from seven major online IOL calculators into one convenient platform. These calculators include:
- Barrett Universal II
- Cooke K6
- Evo
- Hill-RBF
- Hoffer QST
- Kane
- PEARL DGS
- Efficient Data Entry: Ophthalmologists can input patient data once, and the calculator automatically retrieves results from all seven calculators. This reduces typing errors and streamlines the process.
- Comparison and Refractive Outcomes: By presenting multiple results side by side, the ESCRS IOL Calculator allows users to compare outcomes. This feature helps achieve better refractive outcomes for patients.
- Automated Updates: Since there is no internal calculation, the calculator automatically updates whenever a formula is improved or changed. Users don’t need to perform manual updates.
- Comprehensive IOL List: The calculator also includes a comprehensive list of IOLs with optimised constants from IOL.com.
- Additionally, the calculator integrates with the IOLCon database of lenses to automatically suggest the recommended parameters for each formula based on the lens selected by the Ophthalmologist.
- Easy to Use: Load patient data and choose the desired IOL to get accurate recommendations. It’s a powerful online tool for ophthalmologists.
KPI and Quantitative Data: There were no KPIs defined at the outset, the problem definition is that the formulas are siloed in individual website tools making comparison difficult and time consuming. This was a tool that was seen as a benefit to the community and building it would be the start of a wider engagement. The success is defined by how much it is used and the IOL Calculator is used by around 100k surgeons globally. The ESCRS association has 7.5K members and the IOL Calculator has influenced beyond the association community. Since October 2023, the calculator has processed nearly 3 million calculations worldwide.
