Hydrogel inlay may treat presbyopia with little effect on visual quality

Implantation of a corneal hydrogel inlay may treat presbyopia with only moderate effects on the optical system, according to a study.

Twenty-two Korean patients with emmetropic presbyopia were included in the study. Raindrop near vision inlays (ReVision Optics) were implanted monocularly on the stromal beds of femtosecond laser-assisted generated corneal flaps of the patients’ nondominant eyes in order to assess optical quality.

Preoperatively, mean uncorrected near visual acuity of the nondominant eyes was 20/129 ± 1 and mean uncorrected distance visual acuity was 20/25 ± 2. At 6 months postoperatively, uncorrected near and distance visual acuities improved to 20/35 ± 2 and 20/25 ± 1, respectively. The change in uncorrected near visual acuity was significant.

There was a significant difference during the myopic change time period, particularly with mean refractive spherical equivalent at 1 day postoperatively. Reading distance increased from 23.08 cm at day 1 postoperatively to 37.38 cm at 6 months.

Ocular and corneal aberrations were created by the change in corneal curvature; higher-order aberration changes were prominent in eyes with 4-mm pupils.

In patient satisfaction questionnaires, 82% of patients reported satisfaction with their near vision, 13.6% reported needing near glasses more often after surgery than before, and 40% reported presence of glare and a decrease in night vision.

“Further studies should be conducted to assess whether it would be more effective to insert the hydrogel inlay in an eye with slight myopia rather than emmetropia, along with accounting for the difference in reading speed of Asian patients between Korean and other languages,” the study authors said. – by Kristie L. Kahl

Disclosure: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.

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Source:

Yoo A, et al. J Refract Surg. 2015;doi:10.3928/1081597X-20150623-03.