LASIK without the laser? Rabbit eyeballs hint at a new option

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In the lab, electromechanical reshaping can reshape the cornea without cutting tissue.

Laura Baisas | Aug 23, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Figuring out a way to correct blurry vision is a part of life for many of us. In the United States alone, roughly six million people are estimated to have some sort of vision loss and another one million are totally blind.

To escape glasses and invasive contact lenses, many turn to more permanent corrective eye surgery, including the popular LASIK procedure. However, there might be a new vision correction method (that does not involve teeth) on the horizon that can do the same thing without the side effects. It was recently presented at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting.

What is LASIK?

LASIK (or Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) is a surgical procedure that uses a laser to reshape the cornea to correct vision. Human corneas are the dome-shaped, clear structures that sit at the front of the eye. They bend incoming light and focus it onto the retina. From the retina, the light is sent to the brain and interpreted as an image. If the cornea is misshapen, it doesn’t focus on the light properly, blurring the image that the brain is trying to interpret.

During LASIK, specialized lasers remove precise sections of the tissue to reshape the cornea. It is a very common procedure and considered low risk. However, it still has some negative side-effects including eye pain, dry eyes, and seeing halos. It also has some limitations and risks since cutting the cornea can compromise the structural integrity of the eye

“LASIK is just a fancy way of doing traditional surgery. It’s still carving tissue—it’s just carving with a laser,” said Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College who is working on a new way to correct vision without LASIK.

Enter electromechanical reshaping

The procedure that Hill and his collaborator Brian Wong are exploring can achieve this same cornea shaping goal without making an incision. It uses a process known as electromechanical reshaping (EMR). EMR has previously been used to to reshape cartilage-rich rabbit ears and change scars and skin in pigs.

“The whole effect was discovered by accident,” explains Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine. “I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.”

Within the human body, collagen-containing tissues like the corneas are held together like a magnet, with oppositely charged components fusing together. These tissues contain a lot of water. Applying electric voltage to these watery tissues lowers the pH, making them more acidic. When the pH is altered, the rigid attractions within tissue loosens up and makes the shape more malleable. If the original pH is restored, the tissue locks into a new shape.

In the experimental procedure, the team constructed specialized, platinum contact lenses. The lenses provided a template for the correct cornea shape. They placed the lens over a rabbit eyeball in a saline solution meant to mimic natural tears. When the team applied a small amount of voltage, the platinum lens generated the correct pH change. After roughly 60 seconds, the cornea conformed to the shape of the lens. The procedure took about the same amount of time that LASIK takes, but with fewer steps, less expensive equipment, and no incisions into the eye.

The team repeated this setup on 12 separate rabbit eyeballs. Ten of the eyeballs that the team studied were treated as if they had myopia, or nearsightedness. In all 10 “myopic” eyeballs, vision was theoretically improved since the eye’s targeted focusing power was fixed. The cells in these test eyeballs also survived the treatment, since the pH gradient was carefully controlled.

Additionally, other experiments found that the technique may be capable of reversing some cloudiness to the cornea.

In the early stage

While promising, it’s important to remember that this work is in its very early stages. The team will next go through what Wong describes as, “the long march through animal studies that are detailed and precise.” These include tests on a living rabbit instead of just its eyeball.

The team also plans to determine the types of vision problems that are possible to correct with EMR, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic,” says Hill. If the team can make it up to the operating room, this treatment could be less expensive and reverse blurry vision for good.

Click here to read full Popular Science article.

New Grant Supports Advanced Imaging System for Interventional Cardiology

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Aug. 20. 2025 – Principal investigator: Zhongping Chen, professor of biomedical engineering

Award: $2.5 million over four years

Funding agency:  NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Project: Development of integrated OCT/US/PAT system for intravascular Imaging

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart-related issue, affecting over 18 million adults and resulting in more than 350,000 deaths annually in recent years. This project aims to develop an advanced intravascular imaging system that combines the high spatial resolution of optical coherence tomography, the broad imaging depth of ultrasound and the high molecular sensitivity of photoacoustic tomography. This system will assist doctors in detecting high-risk areas, customizing treatments and monitoring the progression of the disease and therapeutic effectiveness. It will serve as a powerful clinical tool, offering a quantitative means to benchmark and evaluate new medical devices and therapies.

The project involves collaboration of four team members from two institutions: Zhongping Chen, Pranav Patel and Howard Lee from UCI, and Qifa Zhou from USC.

More information: https://reporter.nih.gov/search/4x5c-1ZUmUupN7ZEzJKKnA/project-details/11234720

Click here to read the announcement on the UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering website.

 

 

Laser-free vision correction uses electrical current to reshape eye

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ANI Published on August 20, 2025 at 04:11 PM IST
Washington DC [US], August 20 (ANI/ WAM): Researchers have developed a potential alternative to LASIK surgery that corrects vision without the use of lasers. The new method, called electromechanical reshaping (EMR), uses electrical currents and a platinum contact lens to alter the shape of the cornea.

The technique was presented during a meeting of the American Chemical Society by a team led by Michael Hill, professor of chemistry at Occidental College. EMR relies on generating pH changes in collagen-containing tissues such as the cornea, making them temporarily malleable.

In experiments involving rabbits, the team used a platinum “contact lens” in the shape of a corrected cornea as a way to generate precise pH changes in the animal’s tissues.

Roughly a minute later, around the time it takes to perform LASIK, the rabbit’s cornea conformed to the contact lens — but with fewer steps and no incisions, according to the researchers.

The team successfully improved the shape of eyeballs, which were treated as if they had myopia, or nearsightedness, in ten out of 12 rabbit eyeballs.

According to the team, EMR could address conditions such as myopia and may also treat chemical-induced cloudiness, which usually requires a corneal transplant.

Brian Wong, professor at the University of California, Irvine, said the effect was discovered by accident while studying tissue modification. Hill noted that further detailed animal studies will be required before any clinical use, but added that the approach could prove more affordable and potentially reversible compared with current methods.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic,” said Hill in the statement. “But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible.” (ANI/ WAM)

Click here to read full article on The Economic Times Healthworld.com.

 

Scientists Testing New LASIK-Like System That Doesn’t Use a Laser on Eyeball

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 / by Victor Tangermann
“The Whole Effect Was Discovered by Accident.”

Researchers have come up with a potentially groundbreaking — and entirely laser-free — alternative to LASIK, a popular surgical procedure that uses high-power lasers to reshape the cornea to correct vision problems.

During a meeting of the American Chemical Society, a team of scientists led by Occidental College chemistry professor Michael Hill showed off a new approach, called “electromechanical reshaping” (EMR), that uses small jolts of electricity and a molded platinum “contact lens” to reshape the cornea.

While we’re still many years away from being able to tell if the new technique will be a viable alternative to LASIK, there are reasons to be optimistic. LASIK surgery, which has been around for decades, can have rare but negative side effects including dry eyes or — in extreme cases — vision loss or infection.

EMR could greatly simplify the process without relying on invasive surgery, the scientists say, and potentially lower costs as well.

“The whole effect was discovered by accident,” said team member and University of California, Irvine, professor Brian Wong in a statement. “I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.”

Research has shown that adjusting the pH of collagen-containing tissues in the body, such as corneas, allows them to become temporarily malleable.

Hill and his colleagues previously demonstrated that EMR can be used to alter the shape of rabbit ears, for example, and even scar tissues in pigs.

In experiments involving rabbits, the team used a platinum “contact lens” in the shape of a corrected cornea as a way to generate precise pH changes in the animal’s tissues.

Roughly a minute later, around the time it takes to perform LASIK, the rabbit’s cornea conformed to the contact lens — but with fewer steps and no incisions, according to the researchers.

The team successfully improved the shape of eyeballs, which were treated as if they had myopia, or nearsightedness, in ten out of 12 rabbit eyeballs.

The team suggests the new technique could reverse common reasons why patients choose to undergo LASIK, including nearsightedness.

It could even reverse chemical-caused cloudiness, which conventionally can only be treated through a complete corneal transplant.

Despite promising results — for all but two bunnies, at least — we’re still many years away from determining if EMR can become a viable alternative to LASIK.

In the statement, Wong explained that he and his colleagues are gearing up for a “long march through animal studies that are detailed and precise.”

The team is also struggling with finding the required scientific funding.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic,” said Hill in the statement. “But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible.”

Click here to read full article on the Neoscope website.

Laser-free vision correction uses electrical current to reshape eye

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By Bronwyn Thompson
August 19, 2025

Imagine correcting your vision in under a minute – no lasers, blades or pain. Scientists have developed a novel, non-invasive technique that reshapes the cornea using only a mild electric current and a temporary pH shift. In early trials, it reversed myopia without the need for traditional surgery – and could be the most radical advancement in eyesight correction technology since LASIK.

This emerging method that can remodel the cornea through mild electric potential, known as electromechanical reshaping (EMR), was detailed by researchers from Occidental College and the University of California, Irvine, during the American Chemical Society’s Fall 2025 meeting this week.

The cornea is the clear, dome-shaped surface at the front of the eye, acting as a transparent window that helps focus incoming light. It’s made of tightly packed collagen fibers and is designed to be strong and smooth. When light enters the eye, the cornea is the first lens it hits – and it’s here that most of light-bending (refraction) occurs in order to focus the light onto the retina at the rear of the eye. However, if the cornea has an irregular curve, it results in conditions such as nearsightedness (myopia) and farsightedness (hyperopia).

For those who want do do away with corrective lenses, the main option is LASIK (Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) surgery, which uses a laser to reshape the cornea by removing microscopic amounts of tissue beneath a thin flap, allowing light to focus properly on the retina. While, for those suitable for treatment, LASIK has a high success rate – around 95% of patients go on to ditch their glasses only a few days after recovering from surgery – it’s expensive and invasive, and cutting into the cornea alters the structural integrity of the eye.

“LASIK is just a fancy way of doing traditional surgery,” said lead researcher and presenter Michael Hill, a professor in chemistry at Occidental College. “It’s still carving tissue – it’s just carving with a laser.”

What Hill and colleagues propose is instead working with the composition of the cornea to reshape the dome without removing any material from it. Made primarily of collagen, the cornea maintains its shape thanks to the arrangement of charged molecules and proteins. The researchers discovered that by applying a low-level electrical current through a specially designed platinum “contact lens” electrode, they could change the pH of the tissue, increasing the acidity of the corneal tissue, which would make it pliable just long enough to reshape – like fitting something into a mold. In this case, the mold is the platinum lens.

Then, once the current stops and the pH returns to normal, the cornea hardens again and holds its mold-fitted shape. The whole process takes about a minute, requires no cutting or removal of tissue, and, so far, has shown no structural damage or cell death in the tested samples. And the researchers believe EMR could replace LASIK surgery.

“The whole effect was discovered by accident,” said Brian Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine. “I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.”

In the study, researchers tested the EMR process on 12 separate rabbit eyeballs, reshaping 10 of them to mimic the corrective effect required for nearsightedness (myopia). After a short exposure to the current, each cornea conformed to the shape built into the electrode “lens”, and preliminary measurements showed successful corneal correction – with zero incisions, lasers or trauma to the eye.

While EMR is still in its early stages of development and has had limited testing – on isolated eyes, not live models – Wong added that next comes “the long march through animal studies that are detailed and precise.” The team will also determine what type of cornea corrections are possible with EMR.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic [and commercial use],” Hill added. “But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible.”

A 2023 paper in the journal ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering detailed the development and use of EMR. The latest research was presented in a series of talks by researchers Michael Hill, Daniel Kim and Michelle Chen at the Fall 2025 meeting of the American Chemical Society this week.

Source: American Chemical Society via EurekAlert!

Click here to read full article on the New Atlas website.

Researchers discovered by accident a possible alternative to LASIK surgery

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Researchers say they’ve found a potentially cheaper and less invasive option – but it’s a long way from being ready to implement

Julia Musto in New York | Tuesday 19 August 2025 16:24 BST

LASIK eye surgery has been performed successfully in the U.S. since the late 90s, helping nearly 40 million patients to improve their vision through a procedure that cuts into the eye using lasers. Some 600,000 of the Food and Drug Administration-approved surgeries are carried out on American adults each year.

Now, researchers say they have come up with an alternative method that wouldn’t need invasive incisions and could be cheaper.

It uses a process called electromechanical reshaping, which helps to reshape the cornea using electrical current. The cornea is a dome-shaped, clear structure at the front of the eye that helps us to process images. Irregularly shaped corneas are the cause of nearsighted and farsighted vision and astigmatism, and LASIK fixes that by burning away tissue to reshape it.

“The whole effect was discovered by accident,” Brian Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine, explained in a statement. “I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.”

While the work is in its early stages, it could offer an alternative to LASIK. Although the surgery has been safely performed for nearly 30 years with rare complications, it has some limitations and risks. The surgeons say that cutting the cornea compromises the structural integrity of the eye.

This procedure has yet to be performed in humans, but researchers previously used electromechanical reshaping to alter scars and skin in pigs and reshape cartilage-rich rabbit ears.

Working with rabbit eyeballs, they constructed platinum “contact lenses” that served as a template for the corrected shape of the cornea, placing them over a rabbit eyeball in a saline solution meant to mimic natural tears. After about a minute following a small electric charge to the lens, the cornea’s curvature conformed to the shape of the lens. That happened in the same amount of time as LASIK, with fewer steps, no incisions, and less expensive equipment.

Then, they repeated the step on 12 other rabbit eyeballs. Of those dozen, 10 were treated as if they had nearsighted vision, and the researchers found success. In others, they saw that their technique might be able to reverse some chemical-caused cloudiness to the cornea, which is currently only treatable through a complete transplant of the cornea.

In the future, the researchers are planning tests on living rabbits, and looking at far-sightedness and astigmatism. Uncertainties in the team’s scientific funding have put those plans on hold, but Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, will present their findings this week at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic. But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible,” said Hill.

Click here to read full article on The Independent website.

An alternative to LASIK—without the lasers

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By American Chemical Society

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan

Millions of Americans have altered vision, ranging from blurriness to blindness. But not everyone wants to wear prescription glasses or contact lenses. Accordingly, hundreds of thousands of people undergo corrective eye surgery each year, including LASIK—a laser-assisted surgery that reshapes the cornea and corrects vision.

The procedure can result in , prompting researchers to take the laser out of LASIK by remodeling the cornea, rather than cutting it, in initial animal tissue tests.

Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, presented his team’s results at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS Fall 2025) held Aug. 17–21.

Human corneas are dome-shaped, clear structures that sit at the front of the eye, bending light from surroundings and focusing it onto the retina, where it’s sent to the brain and interpreted as an image. But if the cornea is misshapen, it doesn’t focus light properly, resulting in a blurry image. With LASIK, specialized lasers reshape the cornea by removing precise sections of the tissue.

This common procedure is considered safe, but it has some limitations and risks, and cutting the cornea compromises the structural integrity of the eye. Hill explains that “LASIK is just a fancy way of doing traditional surgery. It’s still carving tissue—it’s just carving with a laser.”

But what if the cornea could be reshaped without the need for any incisions?

This is what Hill and collaborator Brian Wong are exploring through a process known as electromechanical reshaping (EMR). “The whole effect was discovered by accident,” explains Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine. “I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.”

In the body, the shapes of many collagen-containing tissues, including corneas, are held in place by attractions of oppositely charged components. These tissues contain a lot of water, so applying an  to them lowers the tissue’s pH, making it more acidic. By altering the pH, the rigid attractions within the tissue are loosened and make the shape malleable. When the original pH is restored, the tissue is locked into the new shape.

Previously, the researchers used EMR to reshape cartilage-rich rabbit ears, as well as alter scars and skin in pigs. But one collagen-rich tissue that they were eager to explore was the cornea.

In this work, the team constructed specialized, platinum “” that provided a template for the corrected shape of the cornea, then placed each over a rabbit eyeball in a saline solution meant to mimic natural tears. The platinum lens acted as an electrode to generate a precise pH change when the researchers applied a small electric potential to the lens.

After about a minute, the cornea’s curvature conformed to the shape of the lens—about the same amount of time LASIK takes, but with fewer steps, less expensive equipment and no incisions.

They repeated this setup on 12 separate rabbit eyeballs, 10 of which were treated as if they had myopia, or nearsightedness. In all the “myopic” eyeballs, the treatment dialed in the targeted focusing power of the eye, which would correspond to improved vision.

The cells in the eyeball survived the treatment, because the researchers carefully controlled the pH gradient. Additionally, in other experiments, the team demonstrated that their technique might be able to reverse some chemical-caused cloudiness to the cornea—a condition that is currently only treatable through a complete corneal transplant.

Though this initial work is promising, the researchers emphasize that it is in its very early stages. Next up is what Wong describes as, “the long march through animal studies that are detailed and precise,” including tests on a living rabbit rather than just its eyeball. They also plan to determine the types of vision correction possible with EMR, such as near- and far-sightedness and astigmatism.

Though the next steps are planned, uncertainties in the team’s scientific funding have put them on hold. “There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic. But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible,” concludes Hill.

Click here to read full article on Medical Xpress.

Scientists discover how to restore eyesight without laser surgery

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By CASSIDY MORRISON, US SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER
Published: | Updated: 

Scientists are on the verge of developing a less invasive and more affordable, incision-free method to treat vision problems.

Chemists in California stumbled upon the idea that vision issues could be addressed chemically, without the need for lasers.

The team used a tiny electric current to lower the cornea’s pH, making it more acidic. This loosened its collagen structure and made it moldable.

A platinum lens designed as an ideal shape was placed over the cornea. As the tissue softened, it conformed to the lens’s curve. Restoring the pH locked it into place.

They tested the power of manipulating pH and fitting the plate in rabbit eyeballs in saline solution. The eyes consistently conformed to the plate, maintaining their shape 12 out of 12 times, and even showed signs of eliminating nearsightedness in two of them.

In lab tests, the team used a saline-soaked rabbit eyeball to mimic conditions in real human eyes, and applied their pH-shifting technique. All 12 eyeballs successfully conformed to the desired shape of the template and, in 10 cases, deliberately modeled to mimic nearsightedness, the corneas adjusted to correct vision.

Americans often treat vision problems, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, without surgery. Roughly 167 million people wear prescription eyeglasses, while 45 million use contact lenses.

A healthy eye has a white outer part (sclera), clear front surface (cornea), and properly functioning internal structures that focus light perfectly on the retina.

When the cornea is correctly curved, light bends precisely onto the retina for sharp vision.

In impaired vision, such as nearsightedness, the cornea is too steep or flat, causing light to focus in front of or behind the retina instead.

Reshaping the cornea through LASIK adjusts the cornea’s curvature, which allows light to hit the retina properly and restore clear focus.

LASIK is generally for those who want to do away with their eyeglasses and contact lenses.

While the laser surgery is overall safe, it is not risk-free. Common short-term side effects include dry eyes, glare, especially at night, and rare complications like still needing glasses, healing issues with the corneal flap or corneal weakening over time, leading to lasting vision impairment.

Most issues resolve, but some may need enhancement surgery or have lasting effects. Not everyone qualifies. Surgeons screen for thin corneas or other risk factors first.

Now, researchers are exploring a way to reshape the cornea without having to make any incisions through a process known as electromechanical reshaping (EMR).

‘The whole effect was discovered by accident,’ said Brian Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine.

‘I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.’

Collagen-rich tissues, including corneas, rely on magnetic-like attractions between charged particles to hold their shape.

Introducing a tiny electric current lowers the pH of the gel-like fluid surrounding its collagen fibers, turning rigid tissue temporarily soft.

While the rabbit eye tissue was soft, Dr Wong and his partner, Dr Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, applied the perfectly-shaped platinum plate to mold the cornea into a new shape. It did so in about a minute.

When they restored pH, those attractions tightened, freezing the tissue in its new form.

The work is still in its early stages. It is expected to begin a long process of detailed and precise studies in living animals, not just eyeballs in saline.

The team will next explore how well EMR can treat common vision issues like nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.

Dr Hill said: ‘There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic.

‘But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible.’

The team’s findings were presented at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society this week.

Click here to read full article on the Daily Mail website.

Electric Bursts Reshape the Cornea to Improve Eyesight Without LASIK

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A noninvasive approach to correcting misshapen eyeballs could expand treatment options for people with vision problems where LASIK is out of reach.

Written by Shelby Bradford, PhD

Corrective vision surgeries, like LASIK, improve people’s quality of life. However, this procedure relies upon using a laser to remove layers of tissue from the cornea, increasing costs and recovery times.

A new method to reshape the proteins in this eye tissue could provide an alternative approach to improve people’s eyesight. Researchers used electricity and a shaped lens to remodel the corneas of rabbit eyes ex vivo. They presented the technique at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society.

The cornea is the outermost layer of the eye, providing overall protection to it. Collagen fibers in the cornea maintain the tissue’s structure and strength.1 Brian Wong, a head and neck surgeon at the University of California, Irvine, was interested in developing less invasive means to modify this collagen in the eye tissues. He thought that if he could disrupt the collagen structure, then he could remold it like plastic. Using electricity, he and his team successfully reshaped resected rabbit ears and eyes, although the eye tissue became opaque.

To explore this process further, the team recruited inorganic chemist and electrochemist Michael Hill at Occidental College. After establishing that their electromechanical reshaping method reformed collagen structure by altering the pH of the tissue, the teams turned to the biggest challenge: reshaping the cornea without turning it opaque.

According to Hill, the first objective was to determine the pH at which the cornea softened and also the point at which it became clouded. He and his team found that the collagen turned malleable at a pH of two, while opacity set it at a pH of about 1.5. “So, we have this tiny, narrow, little window where we have to get the pH profile in order to reshape it, but not make it cloudy,” Hill said.

To adjust the pH to reshape the tissue without damaging it, Hill explained that the difficulty lay in being able to reach a pH of two across the whole cornea before the area nearest the electrode plate dropped to the damage-inducing 1.5.

The solution, Hill explained in his talk, was to deliver the electrical dose in bursts. Using modeling, they determined how frequently they needed to deliver a burst and how long they needed to wait for the pH change to diffuse through the tissue.

Currently, the researchers are developing a live animal model to test their new technique, since Hill said an outstanding question is how long these changes last in the tissue. “If it turns out that we can reshape the cornea, as we know we can, but then in a couple of days, it’s back to its original place, then it’s of really little practical use,” he explained.

If successful, the procedure offers an alternative corneal corrective approach for instances where LASIK is not an available option, such as when a lot of tissue would need to be removed. Additionally, Hill said that the findings offer a new platform to manipulate tissues in a non-invasive approach.

“It’s just a paradigm shift in that, instead of having this tissue and carving it and suturing it and mechanically manipulating it, we’re thinking about it in terms of the material, and how can we change the mechanical properties of it, from a chemical perspective, to remold it and repurpose it,” Hill said.

Meek KM. Corneal collagen—its role in maintaining corneal shape and transparency. Biophys Rev. 2009;1:83-93.

Click here to read full article on The Scientist website.

LASIK alternative in the works

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KTLA5, Aug. 18, 2025

Researchers are developing less invasive LASIK procedures that does not require lasers that cut into the eye instead uses electricity and a contact lens shaped advice too. Gently mold the eye into the right shape. This makes the surgery less risky well not weakening the ire causing side effects. The tests on rabbits the process to just about a minute experts say it’s not only safer. It will likely be less expensive than lease it. The research taking place at occidental college and UC Irvine is still in the early stages.

Click here to watch LASIK alternative in the works