KEY POINTS:
For those sick of reaching for their reading glasses, a new type of eye surgery is on the horizon - but it is likely to carry a high price tag.
Up to 40 New Zealand patients, half in Auckland and the rest in Christchurch, will be sought for
a trial of tiny polymer eye implants, inserted using now-standard laser technology.
"There's been a lot of excitement about this procedure around the world," Auckland ophthalmologist Dr Dean Corbett, a participant in the international trial, said yesterday. "It may well go very well."
Short-sighted people with a spare $3000-plus per eye have long had the option of ditching their specs in favour of laser eye surgery, but for those whose near vision becomes blurry as they get older, glasses or contact lenses have been the only option.
The age-related loss of focusing power, called presbyopia and linked to loss of elasticity in each eye's lens, is universal; almost everyone needs corrective lenses for reading, knitting and computer use by the age of 50.
The trial of the AcuFocus procedure involves insertion, under local anaesthetic, of a dark-coloured disc under a tiny flap made in the cornea using a laser cutting instrument. A super-thin, 3.8mm-diameter disc with a 1.6mm central aperture is put in just one eye. It works by excluding some light to increase the range of vision.
If the procedure becomes standard it is expected to cost about the same as existing laser surgery on one eye.
Dr Corbett said about 250 people worldwide had received the implants since the treatment became available around 2002. The only adverse events had been some evidence of corneal damage, resulting in two patients having the implants removed, after which their vision returned to normal.
After modification of the implant around 18 months ago, about 130 patients had been treated, of whom none had suffered adverse events.
Everyone had a dominant eye and the disc was placed in the other eye.
Between 10 and 20 per cent of patients experienced a very small decrease in the distance vision of their non-dominant eye. This should not affect distance vision because with both eyes open the brain prefers distance vision from the dominant eye.
Dr Corbett is seeking people aged 45 to 60 with good health and good distance vision for the trial, part of a United States Food and Drug Administration-approved trial of safety and efficacy. The patients, for free, would be treated and followed up with eye checks for three years.
* People interested in participating can call (09) 529 2480.
SHARP FOCUS
* The AcuFocus eye implant is a dark polymer disc to treat age-related blurriness of near vision.
* It is far thinner than paper, 3.8mm in diameter, with a 1.6mm hole in the centre.
* It operates on the same principle as the aperture of a camera, excluding some light to increase range of vision.