Corneal Implants Could Soon Replace Reading Glasses For Presbyopia Patients

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A new implantable eye device could soon spell the end of reading glasses, as the invention reportedly helps cure the condition that causes near-vision blurriness experienced by men and women over the age of 40.

The KAMRA inlay, a thin and flexible doughnut-shaped ring that is placed in a small pocket in the cornea, improved vision well enough for 80 percent of patients participating in a trial to read a newspaper without disturbing distance vision enough to disrupt activities such as driving, the researchers reported Saturday at the 118th annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).

The condition, known as presbyopia, affects more than one billion people worldwide and causes the cornea to become less flexible. As a result, it bends in such a way that it becomes difficult for those affected to see up close, often resulting in the need to use reading glasses in order to help alleviate the problem.

More recently, however, several new corneal inlay products (including KAMRA) are being developed to offer an alternative solution – one that eliminates the need to constantly put on or remove glasses, based on whether a person needs to see up close or far away.

The KAMRA inlay is currently available in Asia, Europe and South America, measures 3.8 millimeters in diameter and has with a 1.6 millimeter hole in the middle. When the device is placed in the front of the patient’s eye, it acts like a camera aperture, adjusting the depth of field so that the user can alternately see near and far objects.

“To test the inlay’s efficacy, clinicians conducted a prospective non-randomized study of 507 patients between 45 and 60 years of age across the United States, Europe and Asia with presbyopia who were not nearsighted,” the AAO said in a statement. “The researchers implanted the ring in the patients and followed up with them over the course of three years.”

“In 83 percent of eyes with the implant, the KAMRA corneal inlay allowed presbyopic patients to see with 20/40 vision or better over the three years,” the organization added. “This is considered the standard for being able to read a newspaper or drive a vehicle without corrective lenses. On average, patients gained 2.9 lines on a reading chart. The researchers report that the results remained steady over a three-year period.”

It takes approximately 10 minutes to implant the device, the researchers said, and typically only topical anesthesia is required. Complications associated with corneal inlays have included haziness – a condition that is treatable with steroids and has become less common due to recent improvements in inlay design, the AAO said. They can also be removed if needed, giving the procedure the advantage of being reversible (unlike LASIK surgery).

“This is a solution that truly delivers near vision that transitions smoothly to far distance vision,” said Dr. John Vukich, author of the study and a clinical adjunct professor in ophthalmology and vision sciences at the University of Wisconsin. “Corneal inlays represent a great opportunity to improve vision with a safety net of removability.”

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