People over 40 who can't read small print can have surgery to fix farsightedness
Susan Wright didn’t feel right about having to wear glasses for the first time in her life to improve the blurry vision she got trying to read or do other close-up work. The 53-year old patient care assistant, said she noticed her normally perfect vision beginning to deteriorate at around age 44.
“I remember the day I realized I couldn’t read the instructions on the back of a hairspray can. It was a green can with white writing on it and even holding it at arm’s length the words were hard to make out,” she said.
It’s a problem that occurs with aging, generally noticed at around age 40 and eventually affecting everybody over age 45, according to Marilyn Herrman, coordinator for a new procedure to correct near-vision difficulties called NearVision CK (conductive keratoplasty) offered at Great Lakes Eye Care at 2848 Niles Road in St. Joseph, MI.
“The reason people have decreasing near vision is because the lenses gets thicker with time and the ciliary muscles that pull on the lens capsules to make the lenses fatter or thinner for near or far vision, something eyes do automatically like breathing in and out, can’t pull them into focus.”
NearVision CK reshapes the surface (cornea) of the less dominant eye to bring near vision back into focus. The cornea provides 2/3 of the eye’s focusing power and the lens, located inside the eye, does the rest. CK reshapes the front of the eyes.
To produce this reshaping, a small hair-thin probe that releases radio waves is applied in a circular pattern to shrink corneal tissue. The pattern forms a ring of tightening (like a belt) that steepens the cornea and allows light to properly focus on the retina again.
Wright said she made the appointment for the procedure after hearing about it on television. She had it done on a Friday and went back to work on Monday.
“I had a really good check up first to make sure I met certain criteria, which I did. The procedure itself only took about five minutes. They put in eye drops that help numb the eye, but I felt nothing at all, and as soon as it was over, I could see to read right away. My eye felt a little scratchy at first, but that wore off after the first day and there was never any pain,” she said, adding, "the freedom to be able to read again without glasses is wonderful."
“Wright said she noticed each eye was working at different distances, but they began working together after about six weeks.
A corrective monovision contact lens for the least-dominant eye is another option for people with near-vision problems, Herrman said.
“We typically don’t get patients who come to us solely with near-vision problems. Usually what happens is that when people start to have problems as they age, they pick up a pair of reading glasses at the drug store, they’ll go back and get a stronger power as the problem gets worse,” she said.
“Drug store magnification glasses won’t make their vision problems worse, but people who have the CK say ‘it’s great to wake up and be able to read their watches right away. We like to say we can turn back the hands of time with CK, but we can’t stop the clock from ticking. The next step after CK, if and when a patient has cataract surgery, is a lens implant called crystalens that can be done for anybody who is near sighted or far sighted, according to the power the doctor chooses,” Herrman said.
By using the eye’s muscle to move the lens forward and backward in response to the brain’s desire to see at different distances, the crystalens enables the eye to focus continuously through a range of distances, including near, far and everything in between. It’s recommended for cataract patients between the ages of 50 and 64.
