Cornea Rings Target Nearsightedness

ATLANTA — Tiny, transparent rings implanted into the cornea may be the newest hope for nearsighted adults fed up with glasses and contacts.

The plastic rings, which are slightly thicker than a contact lens, would be an alternative to permanent vision correction procedures such as radial keratotomy and laser treatments.

The rings are designed to be permanent but can be removed if better procedures are developed or if wearers don’t like them.

Doctors at Emory University in Atlanta and nine other health centers across the country are completing tests on the rings before they go to the Food and Drug Administration for approval.

If approved, they’re expected to help people who have mild nearsightedness--about 20 million adults.

“It’s certainly an extremely intriguing alternative,” said Dr. Roger Steinert of Harvard University. “These are quite successful, but they are not perfect.”

Doctors implant two crescent shapes to form a ring around the cornea, a clear window that covers the pupil and iris. Emory doctors have implanted them in about 42 of the 45 patients in the study.

Clemmie Perry, an IRS equal-opportunity counselor, wanted to get rid of her glasses, which often give her headaches because she constantly put them on and off to study reports.

“After a while, taking them on and off gives me such a headache, I just have to keep them on,” said Perry, 49, of College Park, Ga.

She chose the rings over irreversible surgery.

About 30,000 people have sought the laser surgery called photo-refractive keratectomy, in which a blast of light helps to reshape the cornea. About 250,000 people a year get radial keratotomy, in which a doctor makes several incisions in the cornea to flatten it.

Patients typically pay $1,500 to $2,000 per eye for laser surgery, while radial keratotomy costs $1,000 to $1,500 an eye. KeraVision Inc. of Fremont, Calif., which makes the rings, said the cost of the rings would be comparable to radial keratotomy.

“I wasn’t sure about the lasers,” said Perry. “I was really comforted in the fact that these could be taken out if they didn’t work.”

The rings took 10 years to develop. They are made of a type of plastic that is used in lens implants in cataract surgery.