New Eye Gel Treatment to Improve Aging Eyesight

Reuters ^ | New Eye Gel Treatment to Improve Aging Eyesight

[yonif]

LONDON (Reuters) - Millions of aging baby-boomers could be spared the need to use reading glasses to see the small print if a new treatment developed by scientists in Australia is proven safe and effective. The technique, which involves replacing the contents of the lens in the eye with a soft polymer gel, will initially be used to improve cataract surgery in elderly patients.

"But once it is shown to be safe and effective, we think that more and more younger people who are starting to need reading glasses will adopt it as well," Arthur Ho, of the University of New South Wales, told New Scientist magazine on Wednesday.

As people age, the lens in the eye, which focuses by changing shape, becomes less flexible so by the time most people reach their mid-to-late 40s they need reading glasses.

Ho, who is a member of the Australian government's multinational Vision Co-operative Research Center, believes he and his team have discovered the right gel formulation for human eyes and hope to begin trials next year.

Tests on animals have been promising.

Inserting the gel would be similar to cataract surgery but the lens would not be replaced. The contents will be sucked out by a tiny incision in the cornea and replaced with the gel.

"This could be a quick 15-minute procedure," Ho added.

[jlogajan]

And Jiffy-Lube will replace the oil every 50,000 miles.

[balrog666]

>IMG SRC="http://www.20something.cc/yellowcards/clockwork-orange.jpg"<

Just reverse the >< in that command line.

[Enterprise]

Will it be like breast implants where stuff starts shifting around? Will the stuff leak out?

[Post Toasties]

I was one of the earliest patients for laser corrective surgery for nearsightedness in the US, but I don't have much confidence in the efficacy of a yet-unproven technique that permanently removes the lens if there is nothing actually wrong with it.

[Post Toasties]

Here's an idea. How about a procedure that reverses the age-related stiffening of the existing lens?

[Post Toasties]

Or the lenses contents, as the case may be.

[Gunslingr3]

ping

[lizma]

Presbyopia is multifactorial.

It's just not the changes in the lens but also the weakening of the muscles and fibers involved in changing it's shape.

I don't see how this prodedure could correct it, but I wish them luck.

[Dialup Llama]

>It's just not the changes in the lens but also the weakening of the muscles and fibers involved in changing it's shape.

Could eyes exercises improve your vision?

[waterstraat]

Tests on animals have been promising.

Old animals can read better?

[Constantine XIII]

Maybe eye exercises in tandem with the goop.

It is a simple idea, really. Just find some clear goo that has the same index of refraction as natural eye goo and isn't toxic. Voila!

[jennyp]

Here's an idea. How about a procedure that reverses the age-related stiffening of the existing lens?

That's what I thought immediately. (Too bad we'd have to actually think up a way to accomplish it in order to get the patent!)

[lizma]

Could eyes exercises improve your vision?

Not according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology and it's been studied.

It's just part of aging and, well at least aging beats the alternative :->

[Phsstpok]

OK, as someone who's had three (3) corneal transplant operations, the most recent May of this year, I simply quote Monty Pyton

RUN AWAY !!!

[FreedomCalls]

"The contents will be sucked out by a tiny incision..."

Now that makes me cringe. < shudder>

[FreedomCalls]

It's ... also the weakening of the muscles and fibers involved in changing it's shape.

I thought Viagra would fix that.

[razorback-bert]

I am sure, I will get some spam, selling me this soon.