STAAR Surgical Announces Fourth Quarter 2010 Revenue Expected to Exceed $14.2 Million

MONROVIA, Calif., Jan. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — STAAR Surgical
Company (Nasdaq:
STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of
minimally invasive ophthalmic products, today announced that it
expects revenue for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010 to
exceed $14.2 million. Revenues for the full year were approximately
$55 million, a 7% increase over 2009 revenues, driven by an
increase of approximately 10% in revenues from the core ICL and IOL
product lines.  The Company expects to announce its fourth
quarter and full year 2010 results on March 1, 2011.

“Our estimated fourth quarter revenues were driven by strong
growth in the Visian ICL product lines, which achieved a record in
both revenues and units,” said Barry G. Caldwell, president and CEO
of STAAR Surgical.  “Expected ICL revenues were up
approximately 13% from the prior year’s fourth quarter and 8% from
the previous third quarter 2010 record.  Unit volume grew
approximately 20% from the fourth quarter last year.  During
the quarter, approximately 10% of our ICL sales in our recently
introduced expanded range Visian ICL models were in segments where
we have not previously participated, specifically low myopes and
toric hyperopes.  This demonstrates the demand and opportunity
for the expanded treatment range, which received CE Mark approval
during late third quarter.  The strong growth for the Visian
ICL continued in China, India and the Middle East during the
quarter, and revenues in Japan began to reflect our extremely
positive efforts in that market.”

STAAR also announced that it has received approval from the
Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to market its
KS-X2 Preloaded Single Piece Hydrophobic Acrylic Injector System in
Japan.  STAAR has been offering the three-piece KS-X system in
Japan for two years and in selective CE Mark countries f

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