Celebrating 25 Years of Optical Biometry: A Milestone in Ophthalmology

Optical biometry has fundamentally transformed cataract surgery, with 2024 marking 25 years since the introduction of the first optical biometer. In the early 1980s, Fercher and colleagues pioneered optical non-contact eye length measurement, leading to the first interferometric A-scan of the eye. This innovation, patented and later developed by Zeiss, culminated in the release of the IOLMaster in 1999, enabling more accurate and reproducible eye diagnostics. Over the years, optical biometry has evolved into advanced Swept Source OCT devices, accompanied by numerous formulas for calculating IOL power. Today, this technology is crucial not only for cataract surgeries, especially in eyes previously treated with refractive surgery, but also in advancing our understanding of diseases across fields like cardiology and oncology.