Lens Implant May Help Nearsightedness

Nearsightedness or myopia ranges from being annoying to downright frustrating for people who are severely myopic. Laser surgery has become a very popular option for many people who are nearsighted, but the surgery isn’t for everyone.

Some people decide against Lasik surgery because of fear and because the surgery isn’t reversible. Other people aren’t candidates for Lasik surgery. For example, people with diabetes, certain types of infections in the eye or who have cataracts are usually not able to undergo Lasik surgery. This type of vision correction also isn’t recommended for people with thin corneas or severe myopia.

To address this problem, researchers have developed an implantable lens that could do the same thing Lasik does, but without the permanency. The researchers in Japan implanted collagen copolymer lenses into the 56 eyes of 34 patients. These patients were followed for four years to check their progress.

According to a press release issued by JAMA and Archives Journals ,

At four years after surgery, 44 of the eyes (79 percent) were within 0.5 diopter (unit of measuring lens power) of the targeted correction and 52 (93 percent) were within one diopter. The authors suggest that collagen polymer lens implantation “results were good in all measures of safety, efficacy, predictability and stability for the correction of high myopia throughout the four-year follow-up,” they write. “To our knowledge, this is the longest study to assess the refractive outcomes and adverse events” of the collagen copolymer lens implantation for myopia.

There were also no complications that could threaten the vision of the patients.

More studies need to be done, but this is a good start.

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