Experimental Eye Surgery

Geico266

Geico266

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Geico
As most of you know I am into experimentals. :rofl:

Seriously, I have the opportunity to be included in a Phase III Experimental eye surgery to correct near vision. Currently, I need no glasses for long distance, but close I need readers. In fact I must wear over the counter glasses that are clear on top with readers in the bottom of 1.75 power.

The DR. conducting the study was an air force DR. And she expressed a concern that this experimental surgery could jeopardize my medical.

As long as I call out the procedure and can pass with no glasses what's the problem?
 
Any surgery involving a pilot's eyes which includes the word experimental in the description just doesn't sound like a good idea...

Sorry I'm of no help :)
 
What Jesse said -- let them experiment on someone whose life won't be seriously affected by the experiment going wrong. Heck, I won't even consider LASIK at this point -- even the slightest chance of a problem ain't worth the gain of getting rid of my contact lenses even though the FAA and military are happy with pilots who've had the surgery (successfully).
 
Ron Levy said:
Heck, I won't even consider LASIK at this point
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Me either. Vision is the majority of your input from the world around you. One bad eff up and it's over for life.

My old opthamologist and I were talking during an exam and just out of curiosity I asked what his opinion of lasik and the sort was. He stopped what he was doing, sat back and said "take a look at my face and you tell me." He wears glasses. That was good enough for me. His specialty is fixing vision correction screwups. He says the fixes range from "ho hum clickslice done there ya go nothing to it" to "sorry, nothing can be done, here's your cane." He did however say there comes a point that once things degrade too far, or will degrade too far, then the invasive corrections will be the best solution..however as long as lenses will fix the problem you shouldn't be letting people poke you in the eye with sticks, knives or lasers.
 
Is wearing readers really enough of a disease that one would consider surgery for it ?

If you are blind like a bat without your glasses, intolerant of contacts and the heavy glass of the bottle-bottoms you require makes the skin on your nose die off, maybe surgery is a way to go. But to get rid of readers ?
 
When you have not worn glasses all of your life wearing them at 50+ is a PITA. Fogging, dirty, loosing them scratching, ect.

My wife had double cataracts surgery and we replaced her old lens with the state of the art experimental interocular lens. They are man made yet you can still focus them with your own eyes. Amazing stuff. She can see better now, no glasses, than she has at any time in her life. Cataract eye surgery is amazingly accurate and the success rate is 100%.

Since this surgery does not involve the len of the eye ( only the white part) it is very safe to existing vision. I will be able to see the next day just like cataract surgery which is way more invasive.

The procedure involves placing 4 inserts into the white part of the eye to give your own muscles more room to manipulate the natural lenses you have. Makes sense to me.

Medical studies are important to advance medical science. They are also required to advance new procedures. Certainly, there is risk, but how many people over 50 are there that only need readers, in good health, and are willing.

Dr. Bruce?
 
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To destroy your topic, I had a cornea transplant operation in my left eye 5 or 6 years ago. My left eye still gets a bit dry and irritated, but is correctable to 20/40 with glasses and 20/20 with contacts. I've been interested in looking into corrective surgery myself once I finish primary training to correct a severe astigmatism in my left eye (it is something like 9.5 diopters, which is why gas perm contacts work but glasses don't). In particular, intacs corneal implants look pretty darn cool.

Keep me posted as to what you're trying and what you discover. I'm really interested! And, I have an appointment tomorrow for new glasses / contacts...
 
ChrisK said:
To destroy your topic, I had a cornea transplant operation in my left eye 5 or 6 years ago. My left eye still gets a bit dry and irritated, but is correctable to 20/40 with glasses and 20/20 with contacts.
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That is about as perfect of a result as you can expect after that particular surgery.

The thing is, you started out with a sick eye for some reason, surgery was the solution. Needing readers once you hit 'middle age' is not a disease, it's an inconvenience.

Anti-presbyopic surgery (which is what the OP is being recruited for) is the next holy grail in refractive ophthalmology. After grassy meadows of refractive surgery on younger people have been pretty well grazed, the industry is looking for another market.
 
Dr. Bruce is more of the expert.

My opinion is similar to Jesse & Ron's- let them experiment on a person with less to lose if the experiment doesn't work out. There may be unanticipated long-term effects. The people doing the experiment may still be learning the best way to make this work. Never buy the version 1.0 of anything.
 
I had contacts installed within my eyes a few years ago. Lots of paper and letter to AME but medical was issued. The procedure was FDA approved but FAA had reservations.

A non-approved procedure? be prepared to wait...the FAA certainly is.
 
When my insurance company would rather cover surgery than glasses, I'll consider it. Say what you like about them, they're VERY good at estimating and minimizing risk.
 
Three words I don't want to see together: "experimental", "eye", and "surgery".

I think the FAA has made accomodations for LASIK, PRK, and some other things. They probably won't touch any other techniques until they are no longer experimental and have a long enough track record to ensure nothing bad happens at altitude or a sudden loss of pressure, or loss of depth perception at night, or any of a number of other drawbacks.
 
I ain't chicken, except when it comes to eye surgery. Hey if they have to remove a cataract or a BB go for it, otherwise I'll suffer with glasses and contacts.
 
bbchien said:
Negative, ghostrider. That's not adequate. Only specific, enumerated procedures are approved.
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Whoa! Doc! Seriously? Wait a minute you are always serious. :eek:

Well then shoot that procedure in the butt and call it good. I look pretty damn good in readers! :thumbsup:

Darn. This was going to be my contribution to man kind. :rofl:

Thank you DR. Bruce.
 
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bbchien said:
Your Ex-AF doc at least has an understanding of bureaucracy :)
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She is the understudy of Dr. Schlicdameyer (sp?) Of Omaha, NE. Well know, and cutting edge eye surgeon ( pun intended) ;) He is one of the best.

Thank you again for your valuable input to POA. Can you imagineif I went ahead with this thinking it was okay? :mad2:
 
I didn't read what the experimental surgery was. If it's intraocular lens implantation (ICL), that is invasive. And cataract surgery is not 100% successful either. Whenever a surgeon sticks a needle inside your eye there's a risk of infection.

Jamie
 
Geico266 said:
When you have not worn glasses all of your life wearing them at 50+ is a PITA. Fogging, dirty, loosing them scratching, ect.

My wife had double cataracts surgery and we replaced her old lens with the state of the art experimental interocular lens. They are man made yet you can still focus them with your own eyes. Amazing stuff. She can see better now, no glasses, than she has at any time in her life. Cataract eye surgery is amazingly accurate and the success rate is 100%.

Since this surgery does not involve the len of the eye ( only the white part) it is very safe to existing vision. I will be able to see the next day just like cataract surgery which is way more invasive.

The procedure involves placing 4 inserts into the white part of the eye to give your own muscles more room to manipulate the natural lenses you have. Makes sense to me.

Medical studies are important to advance medical science. They are also required to advance new procedures. Certainly, there is risk, but how many people over 50 are there that only need readers, in good health, and are willing.

Dr. Bruce?
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I'm with you, I've been watching the flexible lens implant scene for a couple of years now and just started needing readers and it is a major pain in my ass. I have found one touching grace at CVS, they have Foster Grant readers with LED headlights built in.

I'd like to know more about the program you're looking at. I'm still 20/12 & 20/15 and passed my 2nd class in Aug or Sep unaided, but for comfortable reading or detail work, I need 1.25s.
 
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TMetzinger said:
When my insurance company would rather cover surgery than glasses, I'll consider it. Say what you like about them, they're VERY good at estimating and minimizing risk.
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They are all about minimizing cost, has nothing to do with your result. The US Naval Academy is paying for Lasik for their people to fly with... but then they are willing to send to to your death anyway. I figured they wouldn't risk a 100 million dollar aircraft though unless they had some good results.
 
Geico266 said:
The procedure involves placing 4 inserts into the white part of the eye to give your own muscles more room to manipulate the natural lenses you have. Makes sense to me.
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Thank you. I just got the sweats reading this line. (What happened to the vomit smilie?)
 
I always thought intacs were a neat idea. They are minimally invasive and reversible.
 
Ok, the scleral expansion bands.....results....not consistent. So keep your readers just in case and be prepared for the highs of thinking it's working and the next year knowing it's not. Just set your expectations low for this. For every multifocal contact lens patient I'm battling the advertising promise to the real clinical results. Some patients are just so sold on the advertising promise that even though the three trial brands I let them try which didn't work that well they think there still is something that should work. Not that multifocal contact lenses has anything to do with scleral expansion bands but the marketing of such might make one think they'll get 30 year old eyes back. Sorry to be a party pooper. There's no holy grail for presbyopia.
 
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