Getting rid of glasses for good

Lasik has become hugely popular over the last decade, especially among young adults. But by middle age, virtually everyone develops presbyopia, the inability to read or focus close-up. So even former Lasik patients are rummaging through drugstore racks for a pair of reading glasses that won't make them look like grandparents.

Soon, however, there may be a way for them to remain free of glasses. The Irvine company Refractec Inc. is studying whether conductive keratoplasty, a radio wave treatment for presbyopia, can be used on people who have had Lasik.

The idea is to pair the two treatments so people never have to wear contacts or glasses.

A preliminary study presented last month at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in Chicago showed no safety problems and satisfactory outcomes for near and far vision.

"There were no patients who were dissatisfied. There was a significant improvement in near vision, and their distance vision was unaffected," said Dr. Daniel S. Durrie, lead investigator of the study and an ophthalmologist in Kansas City.

"Patients are very interested in this. These are highly successful Lasik patients who say they'd really like to have a procedure [for presbyopia] that doesn't cut or remove anything. And conductive keratoplasty is a very simple procedure."

Eye doctors are eager to find options for aging Lasik patients. More than 4 million Americans have had Lasik; according to Refractec, the average Lasik patient is 39.

Lasik, which can be used for vision problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, uses a laser to reshape the cornea.

"People who had Lasik in their 30s, they got free of glasses and had this epiphany," said Dr. Robert K. Maloney, director of the Maloney Vision Institute in Los Angeles, who performs Lasik as well as conductive keratoplasty. "All of a sudden, they are 45 and need reading glasses. These patients have spent five or 10 years without glasses. It's depressive for that group."

Conductive keratoplasty (Refractec calls its proprietary treatment NearVision CK) is a much different kind of treatment than Lasik. It is performed using a probe -- with a tip thinner than a strand of hair -- that releases radio-frequency energy.