February 22, 2010 
On the half of the fifth decade, most people must have reading glasses in order to see small printed letters. For providence there is no cure, but doctors have discovered something that could help many people to get rid of glasses forever…
Hyperopia occurs when the lens in the eye becomes too rigid and unable to focus. One of the patients first noticed symptoms when he could no longer tie a Navy knot. “I just couldn’t see the end of the rope anymore,” said the former sailor Rick Timmerman. Doctors hope to be able to restore acute vision in nearness for patients by implanting the tiny mountable lens. In 10 minute operation the surgeon makes a cutting on the cornea with the help of the laser. The lens shaped like donut, but thinner than a human hair, is set below the cut. While LASIK surgery restores patients their vision at distance, this surgery treats vision in nearness. The implant blocks the unfocused light, and a small opening allows entry of focused light, which improves the vision and makes the observation of close objects sharper. “This is the first time that people can see sharply close and distant objects with the same eye,” says Thomas S. Tooma, director of TLC Laser Eye Center in Newport Beach, California.
In one European study, with 81 percent of patients diopters were reduced to zero after one year. Timmerman is one of the first users of new technology and is satisfied with the results. “The other day I helped a friend to arrange his closet. He was looking for the lost screw and couldn’t see it even he wore glasses. I saw it and gave it to him,” he says. Implant in the cornea called AcuFocus is currently going through clinical trials in patients 45 to 60 years old who suffer from hyperopia, and a lens should be in the market for up to two years.
Taken from: www.vasezdravlje.com