Surgery for the “aging eye”
The FDA officially says “yes” to surgery for the “aging eye.” This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, speaking of health. Are you near-sighted? Maybe LASIK surgery can help. Are your farsighted? Maybe a newer procedure, called “CK” will be right for you. At least, the Food and Drug Administration has just approved CK – conductive keratoplasty – specifically for treatment of presbyopia, the well-known “aging eye” condition that affects almost everyone over 50.
Actually, even before FDA-approval of CK for presbyopia, it had already been approved to treat a certain type of far-sightedness with symptoms similar to presbyopia. But FDA-approval of the procedure for presbyopia – a condition which is estimated to affect almost 90 million American Baby-Boomers within the next decade – may well lead to eye-popping ads touting CK’s benefits. Those people whose arms seemed to have shortened when they hit 45 are the population targeted for this new technology, which uses radiofrequency energy to re-shape the eye’s cornea. According to the manufacturer of the device, these “radio waves shrink small areas of collagen to create a constrictive band that increases the curvature of the cornea, bringing near vision back into focus. As with other new procedures – even those approved by the FDA – CK will not be for everyone, and its long-term benefits remain…to be seen. For a copy of this script access our web site, speakingofhealth.com. Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, for CBS News.
Ref: Wall
Street Journal
Refractec, Inc/GoolsbyGroup press release