Laser Eye Surgery

... ScienceDaily: New 'Implanted Contacts' Designed To Fix Nearsightedness @import "/styles/tabs.css"; Show menu RSS feeds | Free newsletter Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center Posted: February 27, 2006 New 'Implanted Contacts' Designed To Fix Nearsightedness UT Southwestern Medical Center ophthalmologists will be the first in the area to insert a new type of implanted lens to fix nearsightedness.

"Think of it as a contact lens inside your eye," said Dr.

Wayne Bowman, who is inserting the new implantable collamer lens, or ICL, today for the first time at UT Southwestern University Hospitals.

The ICL can replace or reduce the need for glasses by permanently placing the specially fitted artificial lens in front of the eye's natural lens, rather than replacing the natural lens as other implanted lens do, said Dr.

Bowman, professor of ophthalmology.

The lens, made of a special collamer material, corrects moderate to severe nearsightedness, known as myopia, by bending light rays to improve blurry distance vision without the need for glasses or contacts.

Dr.

Bowman said the lens currently is approved only for nearsightedness, but it may eventually be available for farsightedness and astigmatism.

It has been used for nearsightedness for several years in Europe and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in December.

According to the FDA, a clinical study of 294 implanted patients showed that 95 percent — 279 patients — had 20/40 or better vision, which is co...

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