A new eye surgery claims to reverse the effects of age on close vision – but how effective is it?
OVER 40 AND having trouble reading this? Then a revolutionary new eye operation might just help clear things up.
Kamra is a new technique that claims to give those nearing middle age and struggling to see closeby objects improved sight for life and was performed in Ireland for the first time last week.
“It’s suited primarily to people who are presbyopic,” says Arthur Cummings, a consultant ophthalmologist at the Wellington Eye Clinic, a Dublin practice which has been in the laser eye treatment business for more than 15 years.
Part of the normal ageing process, presbyopia reduces the ability of the eye to focus on near objects. A progressive condition usually occurring in those 40 and over, it will require most of us to don reading glasses or bifocals.
Using an age-old optical principle, the new Kamra procedure claims to restore everyday vision and reduce dependency on reading glasses. It involves a tiny, vinyl-like opaque disk with a pin hole in the middle being placed over the cornea.
With the pinhole allowing only the central rays to pass through to the eye, the peripheral rays that blur vision are blocked, improving the ability to see things up close.
Last week, Gobnait Long, a 53-year-old bank official from Tipperary, became the first person in the State to undergo the procedure.
Having worn glasses for 35 years, she’s had increasing difficulty reading things up close.
“I do a music programme on community radio at home and when I’m preparing the show with the CDs, and even with my glasses on, I have to get a magnifying glass to see who wrote the songs.”
For Long, Cummings has prescribed that both eyes be treated with Lasik surgery to improve her distance vision, with the Kamra procedure done only in the left eye to improve her near vision.
Kamra is only ever performed on one eye and for those with poor near but good distance vision, Lasik is not required.
In the waiting room of the clinic – which has pictures of grateful famous golfers on its walls and a selection of high-end magazines – is Long nervous?
“I’m nervous. It’s just the thought of someone going near my eyes . . .” she says. “I’ve had scans and other things and I can close my eyes – but I can’t close my eyes for this!”
Dressed in hospital scrubs, Long is in high spirits as she takes to the low operating bed from which Cummings will perform his and Ireland’s first Kamra procedure.
Numbed by local anaesthetic, her right eye is clamped open top and bottom with a speculum to prevent blinking.
A small suction cup is placed over the centre of the eye to stiffen the cornea, enabling a circular flap to be cut away using a laser. A metal instrument then draws the flap away from the eye.
With the laser positioned over her cornea, Long is asked to focus on a green light and after about 10 seconds of a zapping sound, the Lasik is done.
Using a few drops of saline and a tiny sponge, the flap is then drawn back up over the cornea and antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drops are added before the clamp is removed.
It’s the same procedure for the left eye, but this time the tiny Kamra disk is placed over the cornea before the flap is put back in place.
An image of the eye was taken earlier and e-mailed to his iPhone and Cummings uses this to guide the placing of the disk.
Where Kamra is done on its own without Lasik, a similar flap technique is used to place the disk over the cornea.
With the flap replaced, Long is on her feet and brought to an adjacent room where a quick retina test shows the disk needs slight repositioning.
Back on the bench, the flap is drawn back and repositioned before Cummings is happy.
“We’re really just moving it by microns,” he says. “She had a good result but now she has a great result.”
The procedure ends with a cackle of relieved laughter from Long. “I’m feeling grand. There was no pain,” she says.
“There was a slight discomfort when the clamp was going in, more so in the second eye” – a common complaint, according to a nurse, with patients usually feeling anticipation after the first eye is complete.
The day’s procedure costs €4,600 – which includes a health insurer’s 15 per cent discount on the Lasik surgery, but not the 20 per cent Government medical expense rebate that can be applied for. Kamra without Lasik costs €2,000.
So, is Long happy the next day?
“I can read without my glasses,” she says. “I’ve put them away in the bottom of my suitcase.”
But the real test will come at a hurling match at the weekend. “Hopefully I will be able to see the sliotar and the numbers on the jerseys . . . I’ll be a new person, it will just be mighty!”
