A prosthetic adjustable replacement lens, an alternative to cataract surgery, attaches to the eye’s focusing muscles to let patients see clearly and focus on near and far images. The lens is said to work well because it mimics the mechanics of a human lens.

Patients are able to receive clear vision with the ability to focus on objects up close and far away.

Conventional cataract surgery uses simple fixed lenses, which restore vision but are not attached to the eye muscles that focus the eye’s lens. What's more, while traditional surgery may remove the cloudiness from a patient’s vision, it destroys the ability for the eyes to focus on objects up close.

NuLens from Israel-based NuLens Ltd, (nu-lens.com) is a flexible lens mechanism that attaches to the eye’s focusing muscles. Company engineers used the FEA program NEiNastran from NEi Software, Westminster, Calif., (NEiNastran.com) in the design stage to determine a plunger force and displacements, and therefore the needed optical power or deformed shape for lens sizing. Nonlinear analysis in the FEA program, such as estimating surface contact with large-strain hyperelastic materials, helped measure the needed forces. In tests, according to the company, an 80-year-old patient was given eyesight as good he had when he was 25.