Techniques to correct presbyopia
Written by:What is the current situation of tired eyesight?
The surgical correction of presbyopia is currently one of the great challenges we have in refractive surgery. And, that's true for several reasons. One of them is the great frequency of this problem, we must think that over 40 - 45 years everyone to a greater or lesser degree is affected by this problem. This implies that approximately 37% of the Spanish population suffers the limitations in their daily activity derived from the dependence on glasses to read, use the mobile phone, the computer or any activity that requires the next vision. Another of the problems that eyestrain has is the evolution, that is to say, the tired eyesight gets progressively worse until approximately 60 - 65 years old, so any solution that we consider for this problem has to focus and correct not only the tired eyesight that has the patient today, but also has to contemplate this evolution and this progressive loss that will go suffering the subsequent years.
What surgical techniques can correct it?
Currently, there are three techniques that have proven their efficacy and safety for the treatment of presbyopia. The most innovative is the implantation of a small opaque disc in the cornea, it is a disc that is known as the Kamra implant, this is a very non-invasive technique and also, completely reversible. What we do is, using a special high-precision laser, the femtosecond laser, we implant this disc inside the cornea. Once implanted, it is practically invisible and improves the focus ability of the eye in such a way that more than 90% of implanted patients are able to read without using the glasses. The next technique or, the other alternative we can present, would be surgery with the laser. We were already working 4 years ago for the development of a technique that is currently known as Presbylasik-Supracor and that is an operation similar to the one we are currently using for the correction of myopia but, in this case, a software special allows us to sequentially apply a double treatment to achieve a bifocal effect on the cornea and, in this way, correct not only the defect of far but also the defect closely and avoid the need for glasses for any distance. Finally, the third option that we are using would be the substitution of the transparent lens for an intraocular lens, it is the operation similar to the one we are usually using for the correction of the cataract but what we do is replace the transparent lens with an intraocular lens of type multifocal of last generation that allows us to get a good approach at all distances.
Can you solve presbyopia in all cases?
The fact that there are several surgical techniques for the treatment of presbyopia which is indicating us is the great complexity of this problem and that there is no universal technique that allows any patient to be corrected indiscriminately, therefore it is necessary to be very selective when making this kind of indications. It is very important to make a complete ophthalmological examination of the patient to confirm that a patient is fit to be subjected to this type of intervention, but at the same time, other factors must be analyzed, such as, for example, the patient's age, such as work, your daily work activity, what your visual needs are both from a distance and from a distance or close up and, in this way, you can select the technique that will solve the problem of that patient more effectively specific.
