danya
February 8th, 2004, 03:56 PM
Boomers may get to toss eyeglasses
New procedure promises to fix close-up vision
By KATHLEEN KERR
NEWSDAY
Call it boomer vision.
With many baby boomers already on board the wrinkle- removing, eyelifting, hair-transplanting bandwagon, the Food and Drug Administration is poised to approve a solution for their faltering vision.
A surgical procedure performed with the ease of a Botox injection promises to restore close-up eyesight to members of the over-40 crowd who have succumbed to an age-related condition called presbyopia that makes it difficult to read.
For aging-averse boomers eager to abandon their designer reading glasses, the procedure - called CK, or conductive keratoplasty - could provide a solution by zapping the eye with radio waves to improve close-up vision.
But just like Botox injections that temporarily erase wrinkles from boomers' brows, the CK fix, too, is temporary. Effects of the procedure, which costs about $1,800, fade gradually, and a few years later patients will need a repeat treatment. Many eye experts consider CK less risky than laser surgery, although in rare cases the procedure can cause astigmatism, a curvature of the eye that can affect vision.
Physicians perform CK on just one eye, giving the patient enhanced close-up vision while the other eye is left untouched and remains good for seeing far away - CK practitioners call the result "blended vision."
Already used to treat farsightedness called hyperopia, which also impairs near vision but is unrelated to age, CK uses radio frequency energy to heat and shrink the rim of the cornea, steepening its shape.
Unlike popular laser surgery, which cuts a thin flap in the cornea to expose the middle of it to laser pulses, CK requires no cutting. During the three-minute CK operation, a doctor marks the cornea's rim with dots and uses a penlike instrument with a hair-thin probe to zap it with radio waves. The waves cause collagen fibers to constrict, which helps temporarily reshape the cornea.
On Friday the Food and Drug Administration was to consider an application by Refractec Inc., the Irvine, Calif., company that makes the instrument used to perform CK, for approval to use it to treat presbyopia, commonly known as aging eyes. About 90 million Americans have some degree of presbyopia, according to Refractec spokeswoman Kimberly Goolsby.
Most insurance doesn't cover CK because it's considered cosmetic. The procedure isn't as precise as laser surgery, which has a permanent effect, and CK's temporary nature may not appeal to everyone contemplating an alternative to reading glasses.
But Refractec is betting baby boomers will clamor for CK. Spokeswoman Goolsby says CK is considered safer than laser surgery, which can impair sight when done incorrectly by inexpert doctors.
Goolsby said some doctors have already used CK for aging eyes. About 23,000 CK procedures, treating both presbyopia and hyperopia, have been performed since the FDA approved it in 2002 as a treatment for hyperopia.
Once a treatment is approved for one problem, it can be used for other reasons. But in order to specifically market CK as a treatment for presbyopia, Refractec must win FDA approval.
Dr. Sandra Belmont, a laser surgery expert and director of the Laser Vision Correction Center of Weill Cornell Medical College of New York Presbyterian Hospital, says laser eye surgery offers more precision than CK. Belmont is conducting an FDA trial for a laser procedure that changes the shape of eye's lens to reverse presbyopia.
Belmont said people with astigmatisms who want corrective eye surgery will have better results with LASIK. "I think CK has a place in certain practices where a patient doesn't like the idea of the LASIK procedure," Belmont said.
from sunherald.com
New procedure promises to fix close-up vision
By KATHLEEN KERR
NEWSDAY
Call it boomer vision.
With many baby boomers already on board the wrinkle- removing, eyelifting, hair-transplanting bandwagon, the Food and Drug Administration is poised to approve a solution for their faltering vision.
A surgical procedure performed with the ease of a Botox injection promises to restore close-up eyesight to members of the over-40 crowd who have succumbed to an age-related condition called presbyopia that makes it difficult to read.
For aging-averse boomers eager to abandon their designer reading glasses, the procedure - called CK, or conductive keratoplasty - could provide a solution by zapping the eye with radio waves to improve close-up vision.
But just like Botox injections that temporarily erase wrinkles from boomers' brows, the CK fix, too, is temporary. Effects of the procedure, which costs about $1,800, fade gradually, and a few years later patients will need a repeat treatment. Many eye experts consider CK less risky than laser surgery, although in rare cases the procedure can cause astigmatism, a curvature of the eye that can affect vision.
Physicians perform CK on just one eye, giving the patient enhanced close-up vision while the other eye is left untouched and remains good for seeing far away - CK practitioners call the result "blended vision."
Already used to treat farsightedness called hyperopia, which also impairs near vision but is unrelated to age, CK uses radio frequency energy to heat and shrink the rim of the cornea, steepening its shape.
Unlike popular laser surgery, which cuts a thin flap in the cornea to expose the middle of it to laser pulses, CK requires no cutting. During the three-minute CK operation, a doctor marks the cornea's rim with dots and uses a penlike instrument with a hair-thin probe to zap it with radio waves. The waves cause collagen fibers to constrict, which helps temporarily reshape the cornea.
On Friday the Food and Drug Administration was to consider an application by Refractec Inc., the Irvine, Calif., company that makes the instrument used to perform CK, for approval to use it to treat presbyopia, commonly known as aging eyes. About 90 million Americans have some degree of presbyopia, according to Refractec spokeswoman Kimberly Goolsby.
Most insurance doesn't cover CK because it's considered cosmetic. The procedure isn't as precise as laser surgery, which has a permanent effect, and CK's temporary nature may not appeal to everyone contemplating an alternative to reading glasses.
But Refractec is betting baby boomers will clamor for CK. Spokeswoman Goolsby says CK is considered safer than laser surgery, which can impair sight when done incorrectly by inexpert doctors.
Goolsby said some doctors have already used CK for aging eyes. About 23,000 CK procedures, treating both presbyopia and hyperopia, have been performed since the FDA approved it in 2002 as a treatment for hyperopia.
Once a treatment is approved for one problem, it can be used for other reasons. But in order to specifically market CK as a treatment for presbyopia, Refractec must win FDA approval.
Dr. Sandra Belmont, a laser surgery expert and director of the Laser Vision Correction Center of Weill Cornell Medical College of New York Presbyterian Hospital, says laser eye surgery offers more precision than CK. Belmont is conducting an FDA trial for a laser procedure that changes the shape of eye's lens to reverse presbyopia.
Belmont said people with astigmatisms who want corrective eye surgery will have better results with LASIK. "I think CK has a place in certain practices where a patient doesn't like the idea of the LASIK procedure," Belmont said.
from sunherald.com