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.

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.

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.

LASIK permanently removes corneal tissue, but the method designed at Occidental College and the University of California, Irvine, chemically molds the cornea. Both fix vision by correcting the cornea’s curve so that light focuses precisely on the retina.

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.