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.

[razorback-bert]

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

[lizma]

LOL! We'll have to ask Bob Dole if he's thrown our his reading glasses.

[firewalk]

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[Redcloak]

They should be able to treat more than just presbyopia. By fiddling with the index of refraction, they should also be able to change the focal length of the lens; in effect, adding or subtracting diopters from the eye without glasses. They just need to be careful about dispersion so as not to mess up the eye's color correction.