BOSTON -- Most of us will lose our ability to see things close up as time goes on, reported Newscenter 5's Rhonda Mann, but now there is a new alternative to reading glasses.
Ten years ago, when May Hom noticed words were becoming fuzzy, the solution was clear -- she needed reading glasses.
"It was more of a nuisance. I would always have them on and off. I always lost them. I had to buy at least four pairs of glasses," said Hom.
Now there's Conductive Keratoplasty, or CK, approved to treat mild forms of farsightedness.
CK uses a tiny probe, smaller than a human hair, to apply radio waves, shrinking areas of collagen in the eye.
"The central cornea steepens and, as an added bonus, the treatment provides a multi-focal effect so that the treated eye can see well both at distance and at near," said Dr. Helen Wu of Tufts New England Medical Center.
The best candidates are those over 40 with mild farsightedness, people who have headaches after reading, and those who have no illness or chronic disease.
The procedure takes about five minutes and is virtually painless.
"It's quite dramatic," said Dr. Michael Goldstein of Tufts. "We've had patients within 10 or 15 minutes after the procedure who haven't been able to read in years say suddenly they can read a watch, they can read a newspaper."
In clinical tests, about 75 percent of patients who had CK had 20/20 vision at the nine-month mark. And doctors say it has major benefits over the more popular vision correction technique, called LASIK.
With LASIK, surgeons make a disc-like flap then use a laser to flatten the cornea. CK doesn't require any cutting.
But others question the long-term effects of radio frequency waves on the eye and point out that CK has only been approved as a temporary procedure.
"As they get older, their near vision is going to continue to worsen. Therefore, if you give them perfect vision when they're 45, when they're 55, they may require more correction," said Dr. Ernest Kornmehl of Kornmehl Laser Eye Associates.
Hom had CK a week ago, and now she sees things a lot differently.
"It's great," said Hom. "I could actually pick something up and read it without the glasses."
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Rhonda Mann Reports On New Eye Procedure
