In 1910, JB Reiner and CD Keeler founded the Rayner Company in London, England. One of the early customers for his first spectacles was a four-year old boy named Harold Ridley.
This association with Rayner continued into Mr. Ridley’s professional career. Ridley worked with Rayner’s optical scientist John Pike on the first televised eye operations (black and white in 1948 and colour in 1950) and a system for examining the inner eye using electronic rather than optical methods (1949).
Ridley, together with John Pike of Rayner and John Holt of ICI, designed the first IOL. Rayner manufactured this first lens at its instrument workshop in Brighton, East Sussex. The first IOL operation was performed on a 45 year old woman at St Thomas’s Hospital in London on 29 November, 1949.
Ridley Post Chamber lens 1949-60
Ridley presented his first paper on IOLs at the Oxford Congress in England on 9 July. The reaction from his professional colleagues was hostile. Ridley’s results were also met with disdain and scepticism at a meeting of the AAO in Chicago on 12 October 1952.
Harold Ridley's first paper on IOLs
Rayner introduced the Choyce MkI, Peter Choyce’s modification of Strampelli’s anterior chamber lens design.
Peter Choyce
Rayner began work with Strampelli, Epstein, Joaquin Barraquer and Dannheim on their designs for posterior and anterior chamber lenses.
Epstein
Strampelli
Choyce, Strampelli & Barraquer
Work began with Binkhorst on his four-loop iris fixation design. Fyodorov’s modification of Binkhorst’s lens was also introduced during this decade. In 1965, Binkhorst’s two-loop design demonstrated the advantages of iridocapsular fixation following planned extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE).
Binkhorst
Fyodorov
Family of Iris Clip Lenses - Left: Binkhorst 2-Loop Right: Binkhorst 4-Loop Underneath Fyodorov 4-Loop
L-R Back: John Pike of Rayner (UK), Murto (USA), Michael Roper-Hall (UK), Svyatoslav Fyodorov (USSR), Neil Dallas (UK), C.A. Brown, Rubenstein, Warren Reese (USA),Leonard Lurie (UK). L-R Front: Jørn Boberg-Ans (Denmark), Cornelius Binkhorst (Holland), Peter Choyce (UK), Harold Ridley (UK), Benedetto Strampelli (Italy), Dr Edward Epstein (South Africa), MMe Boberg-Ans (Denmark).
The pioneering surgeons formed the Intraocular Implant Club (IIC) with Ridley as their first President and John Pike of Rayner as a founder member. In 1975 this became the International Intraocular Implant Club (IIIC) as the work of the pioneers became recognised worldwide.
The first, modern, posterior chamber lens design was developed with John L. Pearce. A joint venture and technology transfer agreement was made between Rayner and Coburn, USA permitting the Americans to manufacture IOLs.
John L.Pearce
The Choyce MkVIII and MkIX anterior chamber designs became the first lenses to be approved by the FDA as safe and effective. Around this time, Rayner engraved the dioptric power of lenses onto the optic surface.
Choyce Mark IX Lens
Choyce MkVIII Lens
C-flex was the first IOL from a non-American IOL manufacturer in over two decades to gain FDA approval (May 2007).
Designed for use with the Rayner’s C-flex range of IOLs (570C and 970C), RaySert assures ease of use with controlled delivery through a convenient single-handed injection system. With RaySert surgeons can perform cataract surgery using wound assisted technique through a small surgical incision, enhancing patient comfort and recovery.
RaySert was launched on April 11 2010 at the ASCRS Symposium on Cataract, IOL, and Refractive Surgery in Boston.
RaySert carton
RaySert Small Incision IOL Injector System
Family of Iris Clip Lenses - Left: Binkhorst 2-Loop Right: Binkhorst 4-Loop Underneath Fyodorov 4-Loop
Rayner’s C-flex Aspheric 970C with aberration neutral optic technology gains FDA approval and is now available in the US market, in addition to Rayner’s spherical monofocal IOL the 570C (see 2007).
Rayner’s RaySert PLUS mini incision injector was launched into the US market at the 2014 AAO in Chicago following its clearance for sale by the FDA.
RaySert PLUS allows US surgeons to deliver the C-flex Aspheric IOL (970C) through a 2.2 mm clear corneal wound assisted incision.
7 September, 2017. Rayner announced today its investment into the US market with the establishment of a dedicated subsidiary, ‘Rayner Surgical Inc.’ Based out of New York, Rayner Surgical Inc. will provide US specific marketing, regulatory, commercial and research functions to Rayner. From its offices Rayner Surgical Inc. will actively promote and support the growth and development of Rayner’s business in the US.
The Ridley Innovation Centre is a $40 million purpose-built R&D, training and production facility in Worthing, UK. This state-of-the-art, dedicated intraocular lens (IOL) production center has the capability of manufacturing 3 million IOLs each year, more than tripling our previous production capacity. In addition, the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) quality system enables the tracing of every lens from source materials to a patient’s eye.
Built on the clinically-proven Rayner Primary IOL Platform, the 600C Aspheric is a hydrophilic acrylic aspheric monofocal IOL with Rayner’s Amon-Apple 360° enhanced square edge. Rayner’s global 6.0 mm lens design now offers US surgeons a sub-2.2 mm incision IOL for minimal wound damage and surgically-induced astigmatism (SIA), whilst retaining the optical performance of its predecessor, the Rayner C-flex.