Posted on 01/28/2005 9:52:56 PM PST by neverdem
Good article, ND. BTTT!
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Bump for later. Great. So that's what those flashes of light are....
Very good article. I've had floaters since I was a teenager. Some are so strange that they are hard to describe. My eye doctor told me he would be a very rich man if he knew how to stop the progression [as we age].
In this case, that should be B*TT.
I've had them since my mid-40s. And that's been a while. My eye doctor said I would get used to them. He lied.
LOL!
I had a detached retina in 1996. Not fun. My sight has never been the same. Didn't even know it, just went in to get new glasses. Was on the operating table two days later. All I
can say, is if you notice anything, go in right away.
Floaters aren't too bad. You get used to 'em pretty quick. But the shadow people are a bee-yatch.
If you get this kind, go to a specialist. I had one in 1997 - the lazy idiot that I went to at first viewed me as a gravy train and had me come in weekly to "monitor" it. After 4 weeks, I asked for a referral to a specialist, walked downstairs, and in 15 minutes he had diagnosed it and I came back the next day for laser spot-welding of the spot that had torn. That is it, no problems since. If I am in strong light and then blink rapidly I can see the triangle of welds.
FOr me, it is like constantly staring at bacterium under a microscope. They are second nature to me now (20+ years), but when I concentrate or look into a light source, It is like looking at a slide of pond water under 50x magnification. I've gone to specialists, and they tell me that there is nothing to correct it.
Floaters move out of the visual field at the same angular veolcity of a scurrying spider about 10 feet away or a mouse at 30 feet.
Here in Dallas, they are offering a new lens implant that not only corrects your far vision, it corrects the deterioration of your up-close reading vision as you age as well. And on top of that the replacement lens will never develop cataracts.
Crystal Lens Offers Cataract Patients New Focus
http://www.wral.com/health/3328197/detail.htmlFAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- If you had to choose, would you rather see things up close or far away? People with cataracts used to have to make that decision.
The crystal lens is the first implant that works exactly like the human eye. The lens, which is attached to muscles in the eye, instantly adjusts focus so people with it can also see objects that are near and far.With cataract surgery, doctors remove the cloudy lens and replace it with an artificial one. The problem is that the lens had one setting -- either near or far.
Now, people with cataracts and other eye conditions do not have to make that difficult choice. The crystal lens is the first implant that works exactly like the human eye.
The lens instantly adjusts focus so people with it can see objects that are near and far.
"It's introduced the ability to correct the loss of accommodation, or moving the focus," said Dr. Michael Woodcock.
During the 10-minute procedure, Woodcock attaches the lens to the muscles in the eye.
"It will kick in pretty well in about two weeks, and it will continue to improve for about a year," he said.
In clinical trials, most patients no longer needed glasses. Woodcock says 98 percent of those patients could read small print.
The surgery is primarily for people with cataracts. Woodcock also uses it on patients, like Ron Matthews, who want to get rid of their glasses or contacts, but cannot have LASIK.
A brain aneurysm destroyed the muscle around Matthews' eye.
"Anything touching the right side of my head really gets irritated," he said.
Matthews is one of the first people to get the crystal lens. Leona O'Berry had the procedure in March.
"So far I'm amazed at how much I can see," she said. "I have not worn glasses since the day I had the second operation, the second eye done," she said.
As Matthews waits to have the procedure on his second eye, he says he cannot believe how well he sees already, and is excited about what is to come.
"It's phenomenal. You feel like a new person," he said.
The procedure is so new that insurance companies are still figuring out how to cover it.
The crystal lens itself costs $800. Right now, Medicare does not cover it. Many private insurance companies will pay for the procedure, but the patient must pay for the lens.
Face huggers?
During the 10-minute procedure, Woodcock attaches the lens to the muscles in the eye.
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