US approves laser surgery to fix two vision problems
Posted: 13 July 2007 1041 hrs

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WASHINGTON - US health authorities Thursday approved eye surgery to help people using bifocals eliminate the need for glasses by performing different operations on each eye.

The Food and Drug Administration said the technique would correct nearsightedness in the patient's dominant eye and part of the nearsightedness in the non-dominant eye.

"This allows the patient to use the fully corrected eye for distance vision and the under-corrected eye for seeing close up," the FDA said in a statement.

"After a period of time, the brain adjusts to the difference in perception between the two eyes."

The technique called CustomVue Monovision LASIK and developed by AMO/VISX could be used to avoid the need for glasses or contact lenses for people over 40, many of whom need to correct for nearsightedness or myopia as well as presbyopia, for reading or focusing on close objects. These people currently use separate reading glasses or bifocals.

The new procedure "expands permanent vision correction options for nearsighted adults who also have trouble focusing on objects close-up," said Daniel Schultz, director of FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

"Unlike traditional LASIK, Monovision LASIK may reduce the need for reading glasses in some people over 40." - AFP/fa