Laser presbyopia reversal effective for near vision improvement at 2 years

SAN DIEGO — Two-year results show that laser presbyopia reversal is effective for improving near vision and accommodation in presbyopic patients, according to a surgeon speaking here.

Charles E. Rassier, MD, presented the results of a prospective study of laser presbyopia reversal at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery annual meeting. He and his colleagues tracked 30 patients aged 50 to 64 years who underwent the procedure. All patients had minimal refractive errors and were free of systemic and ophthalmic disease at baseline, he said.

"Laser presbyopia reversal utilizes an Erbium:YAG laser — a 20 millijoule laser operating at 20 Hz frequency — to ablate scleral tissue," Dr. Rassier said. In all patients, surgeons used the laser to create "four pairs of scleral ablations starting 0.5 mm posterior to the limbus. The ablation patterns measured approximately 4.5 mm in length and each ablation was separated by 2.5 mm," he said.

In all cases, the sclera was ablated to a depth of 80% total thickness plus or minus 10%, he said. The final endpoint was direct observation of a "bluish choroidal hue."

Nine patients were followed up at 2 years, he said. Uncorrected visual acuity had improved to approximately J3 from J8 at baseline, he said.

"LAPR appears to be a promising technology and hopefully reading glasses will be a thing of the past," Dr. Rassier said.