LASIK alternative? Early test of new laser-free eye treatment shows promise
Scientists have developed a new potential method of corrective eye surgery that does not use lasers, but rather shapes the external surface of the eye using an electric current.
Until now, the method has only been tested in animals, but researchers who have pioneer hope that he will one day offer an alternative or a complement to conventional Lasik surgery. The team presented its conclusions on August 18 at Annual meeting of the American Chemical Society In Washington, DC
Lasik is the most popular “refractive” laser surgery, which adjusts the way in which light passes through the clear outer layer of the eye or cornea. It can correct changes in the cornea that cause myopia, clandestinity and astigmatism. For those who seek to abandon glasses or contact lenses, Lasik has become a common solution: since its approval in 1999, this surgery has treated more than 10 million people in the United States
The cornea folds the light to concentrate it on the retina, the tissue sensitive to light at the back of the eye, before visual information is sent to the brain to be processed. Irregular corneas do not correctly concentrate light, which causes altered vision. Although the Lasik can correct this irregularity, it can have potential side effects Like eye pain and irritation. More rarely, the incisions on the eyes made by lasers can Compromise the structural integrity of the organ.
To find another possible method to reshape the cornea without lasers or incisions, Michael Hillchemist in the Western College of Los Angeles, and Dr Brian WongA UC surgeon Irvine School of Medicine began to experiment with a process called Electromechanical reshaping (DME) To mold the fabrics in the body. This technique previously enabled researchers to Rush rabbit’s ears and modify Pig skin scarsapproaches they plan to develop for possible use in human patients.
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The DME uses electricity to modify the fabrics. Many fabrics containing collagen in the body, including the cornea, are kept in place by opposite load components attracted by each other as magnets. These fabrics also contain water, therefore Zapping the fabrics with electricity Finally lower their pH, which makes them more acidic. With the modified pH, the attraction between the opposite charged components is unlocked, loosening the fabric and making it faint. When scientists then cut the electricity and restore the original pH of the fabric, it locks in the new shape.
Hill and Wong wondered if Emr could be used to reshape the cornea. To see, they carried out tests with rabbit eyes in laboratory dishes. They created a model of platinum contact lens to imitate the corrected shape of a cornea, placed it on a rabbit eye globe in a saline solution and sent an electric current through the platinum lens. In about a minute, the cornea of the rabbit eye globe was modeled around the contact lens; The entire process took roughly at the same time as Lasik surgery.
The researchers tested this method on 12 rabbit eyelashes, 10 of which were treated as if they had myopia or myopia. The treatment managed to reshape the cornea in a way that would focus better on the retina, and the cells of the eyeballs have not been damaged in the process.
The method could also be able to reverse the nebulosity in the cornea, Hill and Wong told Live Science, which is currently treatable only by a corneal transplant. This is something they still experience, but in theory, refining the pH of the cornea could also help to counter nebulosity, they think.
Although Hill and Wong hope for the promise of EMR eye treatments, this procedure is very early, they said. The following steps are studies on living animals and more specific tests to assess the specific vision problems that this process can correct, like near and clandestinity and astigmatism.
“Like any other medical technology, it’s a process, and you have to take a good number of tests,” Wong at Live Science told. This includes tests more with animal tissues and with living animals, the resolution of any problem that occurs and ends up going to various phases of clinical trials in humans.
These first preclinical tests of the method are promising in that they show that the procedure is safe for eye cells and that the cornea remains clear after the alteration of the DME, Maria WalkerAn optometrist at the University of Houston, told Live Science. But other tests should study possible longer -term effects. “He could be safe and the cornea could be clear, but what happens in a month?” said Walker.
Certain problems of laser eye surgery, although rare, come from heat transfer to the cornea, which EMR techniques would avoid, noted Walker. “My impression is carefully optimistic,” she said. “I think it’s promising.”
If the method has proven to be successful and safe in humans, it could one day offer an alternative or a complement to the Lasik which is perhaps reversible – because it does not really remove from fabric, simply rearranging it – and cheaper, suggest the researchers.
“You cannot deal with each problem of the cornea with Lasik, there are areas where it simply has no application,” said Wong. There are some patients who are not good candidates for the Lasik. “So I think there are areas where it would have a value completing the Lasik.”
The cost of EMR equipment would also be cheaper than laser equipment, Wong said, which could potentially make it accessible to more patients looking to correct their vision.
This article is for information only and is not supposed to offer medical advice.
