New Procedure If You Can’t Get Lasik
Published: June 19, 2005
Most people can have their nearsightedness corrected with Lasik surgery. But some need so much correction that the laser can’t flatten their corneas enough.
Doctors used to have to turn away those patients, but not any more, thanks to versisye lens implantation.
Lasik wasn’t an option for Tom Dean because he needed too much correction, but he has a healthy cornea and the front chamber of his eye is deep enough to fit the recently FDA approved verisyse implant that will correct his severe nearsightedness.
Opthalmologist Dr. Andrew Tharp says, “With traditional implant surgery, we take the lens out of the eye. This is the only procedure where you’re actually piggybacking a lens into the eye on top of the native lens that they’re born with.”
In the first two steps of the surgery, Dr. Tharp makes a series of cuts into the eye to prevent fluid retention and reduce astigmatism. Then he makes a final cut into the cornea to insert the implant, taking great care to make sure the prosthetic is centered.
The final step which is unique to this surgery is called “enclavation.” Instead of anchoring the implant with stitches, he pulls up some of the tissue from the iris to hold it in place. Unlike Lasik surgery, the corneal tissue isn’t removed, but Dr. Tharp can use a laser later on to correct any residual nearsightedness or astigmatism after surgery.
The verisyse implant is flexible enough to leave the door open for other possibilities too. Dr. Tharp says, “If for whatever reason, maybe a new technology comes out ten years from now that we just can’t have any way of knowing about right now, maybe they get a cataract, if they were to get glaucoma or iritis or something, you can always take this thing out.”
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LASIK: A Guide to Laser Vision CorrectionTom had his right eye done a few weeks ago and is already seeing more clearly, especially on the job as the band director at Castle High School. “With my job reading music and reading small things it’s incredibly, incredibly easier.”
Because the doctor is cutting into the eye, the procedure has to be performed at a surgery center which drives up the cost about $500 for each eye. So it’s about $2,600 per eye, which is money well spent for people who are practically disabled without their glasses as this patient was.
So it’s for nearsighted patients, what about farsighted? They’re not candidates because they apparently don’t have enough room in eyes to fit the implants.
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