Laser photolysis - postponing the need for cataract surgery

Mr I.Arons, a retired consultant in the ophthalmology and medical laser industry, wrote to us this week to highlight an exciting new development in the field of cataract treatment called laser photolysis or photobleaching.  This is relevant to floater sufferers as the onset of cataracts can be a complication of vitrectomy surgery and a risk that deters many people from this route.

He has written in his recent blog that it might be possible in the future, to scan the lenses of those with early-stage cataracts and remove the milkiness/yellowness of them with a laser, delaying the point when cataract surgery is needed. Dr. Kessel et al at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Denmark, discovered that they could use a femtosecond laser to “bleach” naturally occurring “chromophores” in the human lens. They concluded that, cataract, a disease associated with old age and vitrectomy surgeries, can be postponed by 5 years. Treating the entire lens volume is "expected to eliminate the effect of several decades of optical aging.” (See Table 1. below)

Mr Arons has over 30 years experience in the ophthalmology and medical laser arenas and was at the forefront of many inventions in soft contact lenses and laser refractive surgery. We are really thrilled by his interest in OCV and excited to have his input. Read more: http://irvaronsjournal.blogspot.com/2010/08/femtosecond-laser-cataract-removal.html References: Non-invasive bleaching of the human lens by femtosecond laser photolysis; Kessel L, Eskildsen L, van der Poel M, Larsen M; PLoS One. 2010;16;5(3):e9711.