Age related vision correction

Presbyopia

The word ‘presbyopia’ comes from the Greek word ‘presbys’ meaning ‘elder’ and the Neolatin suffix ‘opia’ meaning sightedness.

It’s believed that the lens of the eye loses elasticity. What most people don’t believe is that there’s something you can do to correct ‘far sightedness’. The truth is, there are now a number of options available to help people, mostly 45 years and older, to reduce their dependence on glasses.

KAMRA

I’ve been involved in clinical trials with a this device, by US company AcuFocus, that helps corrects vision in people 45 and over. I’m fortunate to be one of the first ophthalmologists in the Southern Hemisphere to be able to offer KAMRA to my patients on a commercial basis.

Put simply, KAMRA is a corneal inlay, similar to (but smaller than) a contact lens. It’s like a ring that creates a pinhole effect, with a tiny aperture, like the lens of a camera, in the centre. So, near objects look more in focus.

A typical patient would be late 40s or early 50s, who hasn’t needed to wear glasses all their lives and suddenly find they need help to read small print or in low light. The procedure takes just 30 minutes in our day surgery in Bondi Junction, and is performed on one eye only.  From the trials I’ve performed, there’s minimal discomfort and people are back to their day to day business the following day.

It’s different from other procedures I do for presbyopia, because the KAMRA corneal inlay can be removed. And so, I’m offering my patients the reassurance that, if they’re not happy, it’s reversible.

Refractive lens exchange

Replacing the lens of the eye with a flexible, artifical ‘intraocular lens’ (see my page on Refractive lens exchange for more information).

Laser Blended Vision

Even though it’s a relatively new procedure, I’ve been performing Laser Blended Vision (also known as PresbyLASIK) for a while now. It’s an advanced type of laser surgery, to help improve the vision of people who are presbyopic, or far-sighted.

This procedure works by creating more than one power on the front surface of the eye, which lets a person see through different zones – the brain adapts, selecting which zone it needs to see through to get the best vision, be it near or far.

Laser Blending Vision is what I consider to be an exciting advance on what is known as Monovision, where we corrected one eye for distance and the other eye for close work.

The future

There are some new procedures currently being trialled saround the world that I’m keeping an eye on. This includes RELex ( a trade name of Carl Zeiss Meditec) dispenses with the need for the second laser, performing both steps with the same technology.

What’s around the corner? There are a lot of exciting technological advances in the pipeline, including accommodating lenses, where instead of inserting an artificial lens, a polymer is injected to fill and change the shape of the eye.

Eventually, we’ll have access to  solutions you’ve only seen in sci-fi movies. For example, they’re already working on technology using electrodes that will control the muscles, allowing your eyes to change focus automatically. There are already electronic spectacles  - the world’s first electronically-focusing prescription eyewear – that will change focus,  as you, say, lower your head to read. Fascinating stuff.

It’s really exciting, I can’t wait to see what’s happening now becoming a reality.