Two new studies recently presented at the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) discussed cutting-edge treatments that may help presbyopes see better.
The first treatment was presented by Dr. Soosan Jacob, a researcher at Dr. Agarwal's Refractive and Cornea Foundation in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, who developed a new technique called PEARL (PrEsbyopic Allogenic Refractive Lenticule) that uses a femtosecond laser to make a small cut in the cornea. A lenticule of the corneal tissue is then removed through the cut using a technique called small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE). The SMILE lenticule is cut to 1 mm and reshaped, and then placed into a pocket of the cornea of the presbyopic patient to improve near vision without significantly compromising distance vision.
And the second treatment offered by researchers at the Dignostica Oculistica e Microchirurgia Ambulatoriale in Rome, Italy uses electrostimulation. Researchers treated 46 patients with mild presbyopia with electrostimulation in their study, and found participants could see clearly an average of 6 cm closer 45 days after the procedure. Researchers also reportedly noticed an increased lens thickness and positive change in curvature in patients.
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Source: American Academy of Ophthalmology