14 DAY TRIAL // Usually hailed for their ability to restore sight to people who are nearly blind, artificial lenses have now gone from helping people in distress to improving the vision of those who can afford to have them implanted. During the implant operation, such a lens is placed in the eye of an individual and is then fine-tuned so that he or she gets the perfect vision possible – 20/20, or even more, experts say. Most likely, this is just the first type of augmentative surgery that will become standard in the near future.
SkyNews reports that the procedure for implanting the artificial lens is very similar to the one performed to treat cataract. During the first stages, the procedure is identical, but the main differences stem from the fact that fine-tuning of the lens can be performed several days later, after the patient gets accustomed to his or her new abilities, experts say. At this point, this type of surgery can only be performed in the United Kingdom, but other countries will probably start doing it too, if demand is high enough, analysts believe.
The ability to perform such intricate procedures is “a hugely significant development,” Bobby Qureshi explains. He is the first eye doctor (ophthalmologist) in the UK to use the new type of lenses. According to the expert, the device can treat both cataract and the long-sightedness. The latter is usually associated with an advanced age, but its effects can be mitigated by the special light-sensitive silicone that makes up the surface of the lens. The shape and curvature of the device can be changed post-op via a laser, which can basically chip away at it until the sharpest vision possible for the patient is achieved.
“We have the potential here to change patients' vision to how it was when they were young. The change is so accurate that we can even make the lens bifocal or varifocal, so as well as giving them good vision at distance we can give them good vision for reading. They won't need their glasses at all,” the expert explains. He adds that the new method can only cure tiny defects in the eyes' processing ability, which patients have been born with.
“It's absolutely incredible. To think it's been tailor-made for you, matching any imperfections. It's the way forward, isn't it?” Gill Balfour says. She is one of the first patients that Qureshi operated on, at the Spire Gatwick Park Hospital. Balfour had been suffering from early signs of cataract, as well as from other age-related eye diseases. The fact that the lens can be continuously adjusted for several days after the implant is what really makes this treatment method stand out, experts point out.