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New Surgical Technique Could Reduce Need For Reading Glasses
FDA-Monitored Clinical Trials Test Effectiveness of Scleral Expansion Surgery
New York, NY (June 2001) -- Researchers at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary are using an experimental surgical technique to reverse
presbyopia, the loss of the eye's focusing ability that occurs with aging and affects nearly everyone by age 50. The procedure, called scleral expansion surgery, could be an alternative for people who now require eye glasses or contact lenses for reading. Barrie Soloway,
M.D., an ophthalmologist and co-director of The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary's Vision Correction
Center, is the principal investigator in an FDA-monitored clinical trial which is examining the effectiveness of the new surgery at six sites across the country. Here's how the surgery works to improve focusing. The lens of the eye is suspended in the eyeball and connected to the outer portion of the eye by hundreds of tiny ciliary muscles. Due to the developmental nature of the lens, it grows thicker and larger and eventually impinges on the ciliary muscles' ability to alter the shape of the lens -- and to focus. "By expanding the outer diameter of the sclera overlying the ciliary muscle, the surgery frees up more room in the eye for the enlarged lens and permits the ciliary muscle to change the shape of the lens again," said Dr. Soloway. "As a result, patients can focus more naturally and should be able to read without eye glasses as they did before developing
presbyopia." It is called scleral expansion surgery because the sclera, the white of the eye, is the outer portion of the eye to which the ciliary muscles are connected. The surgical device used to correct presbyopia is called a scleral expansion band. Four of these small removable arched bands are implanted around the sclera during the procedure. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary is providing treatment to several dozen patients age 50 to 65, who have not had prior cataract or intra ocular surgery.
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