Phacoemulsification handpiece, or more commonly known as phaco handpiece, has been a major tool in improving vision worldwide for decades now. There are several phaco handpiece manufacturers around the world, some more technologically advanced than other, but each one with their own crowd.
We bet you all know of the big-3, Alcon, Bausch and Lomb and Johnson and Johnson, but how many of the others are you aware of.
The big-3 phaco handpiece manufacturers
- Alcon Laboratories is one of the three giants in eye vision correction. Alcon has provided us with over 10 different phaco handpieces over the years. One of them is highly standing out as their best seller and that would be the Infiniti Ozil phaco handpiece with reference 8065750469, probably being the highest selling out of any phaco handpiece out there. It’s success lies in the Ozil function which was introduced in the Infiniti phaco machine, and also in the fact that doctors can still use it with the Centurion machine, so doctors don’t have to upgrade immediately to the Centurion Ozil phaco handpiece (ref. 8065751761).
- Bausch and Lomb is another one of the big phaco handpiece manufacturers. Stellaris has taken over the Millenium phaco systems, as well as the Stellaris phaco handpiece (ref. BL3170). A strong opponent for Alcon’s equivalent. Karl Storz used to be an independent manufacturer of phaco handpieces especially for the Millenium machine, but it was purchased by Bausch and Lomb.
- Last of the big ophthalmology players is Johnson and Johnson Vision, featuring the Ellips FX phaco handpiece, which can work with both the Whitestar phaco machine, as well as the easier to move Compact Intuitiv system. Similarly to Karl Storz, Allergan, Advanced Medical Optics (AMO), Abbott used to be independent phaco handpiece manufacturers. A series of acquisitions gave birth to Allergan Medical Optics and then Abbott Medical Optics, before finally being a part of JJVision in a multi-billion series of mergers and acquisitions.
Phaco machine and phaco handpiece manufacturers
They may be (much) smaller than their aforementioned rivals, but the following companies are quite important in the markets they cater. Usually limited by geographical conditions, they manage to achieve a significant hit in market shares around their headquarters and neighboring countries.
- Dutch Ophthalmic Research Center (International) B.V., or easier known as DORC, is as their name suggest a Netherlands based phaco handpiece manufacturer. What this company excels at, is constantly allowing doctors to reuse even the older phaco handpieces. Their latest phaco machine EVA 8000 is compatible with all different 4 phaco handpieces, the company has sold in the past, that is from the newest ones 3002.P and 3002.W, as well as the older models like 3002.M and 3002.
- Staying in the European region and in Switzerland, Oertli has provided a very well-built phaco handpiece with ref. VG800011, which is compatible with all 3 of their surgical platforms as they name them, OS 4, Faros and Catarhex 3.
- Hoya Surgical Optics, very recently acquired Fritz Ruck and their phaco production line. We can only assume that when Japanese technology and German design meet, the end result must only be impeccable.
- In our neighboring Italy, Optikon is a phaco handpiece manufacturer of two different handpieces SIX, which features a body with 6 piezoelectric crystals for more power and Slim Line with its very ergonomic handling. They accompany their cataract surgery machines E-EVO Smart E, S and CR.
- Nidek is another Japan based company on our list. Well-known especially for their diagnostic equipment, they have constructed a superbly lightweight 57 gr phaco handpiece to work with their machines.
- Germany based Geuder AG and as they state in their logo “Precision made in Germany”, they definitely pay attention to any miniscule detail on their products. They are not only a phaco handpiece manufacturer, but they have also designed the Megatron S4 system.
- Iran has its representative with the Catavit phaco system and its unique phaco handpiece, manufactured by Aalipayam Co, which has a significant share in Iran, Syria and the countries nearby.
- Nanjing Redsun Optical Co., Ltd, or in short Redsun, is a China based manufacturer. They promote their own MD480A phaco emulsifier, which has a very specific phaco handpiece.
- This AG, another Swiss based company that is not only a phaco handpiece manufacturer, but they have developed and marketed their own phaco system named Sophi.
- Aurolab is an Indian company, with a vast ophthalmology range of products. One of them being Hummingbird an intelligent and intuitive phaco system, which comes with a phaco handpiece for it.
- Medical Technical Products (MTP) has develop the Trisonic surgical system, which comes with an all titanium phaco handpiece. They are based in the USA, but they are exporting their product in a variety of countries in EU and China.
- Last but not least another Germany headquartered company is Carl Zeiss AG. With a very wide ophthalmic product portfolio they couldn’t be left out of the phacoemulsification machine race, so they have developed two versions of Visalis machine, a steadier one with model 500 and a more compact one with model 100, in which their phaco handpieces work greatly.
Compatible phaco handpiece manufacturers
The following companies do not manufacture phaco machines of their own. Instead they focused on providing an alternative solution to phaco handpieces for several systems.
- You can’t pass on German quality, so you can’t pass on LUMed GmbH. Even though they don’t produce a machine of their own, their handpieces are compatible to the Fritz Ruck phaco machine.
- You can barely feel it in your hand, P. Braem AG, a Switzerland based company, has made a titanium wonder, which includes 6 piezoelectric crystals. Its phaco handpieces are compatible with either Oertli or Geuder systems.
- An honorary mention of the California based company Advanced Optisurgical Inc. (AOI). They used to manufacture their own phaco machine, named Horizon, as well as over a dozen of different compatible phaco handpieces, but unfortunately, that part of their operation has stopped for a long while.
We have counted a total of 25 current and ex phaco handpiece manufacturers around the globe. How many did you know? Let us know if we missed anyone!