] Gel Promises Better Vision for Ageing Eyes

[Guest guest]

> GEL PROMISES BETTER VISION FOR AGEING EYES

> IANS / NewWind Press

> Wednesday, September 10, 2003

>

>

http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IE320030910013728 & Page=3 & Title=F

> eatures+%2D+Health+%26+Science & rLink=-162

>

> SAN FRANCISCO - Bioengineers have devised a soft, supple substance that

> could turn back the clock for ageing eyes that are no longer able to see

> up-close clearly without aid, reports UPI.

>

> They predict that the pliant, jellylike material -- injected through a

> minuscule cut -- could replace timeworn lenses. Scientists speculate that

> this material harden over the years until, in mid-life, they lose their

> ability to accommodate, or change focus, at arm's length.

>

> Beginning at about age of 40, the condition, termed presbyopia -- which

> means 'aging eye' in Greek -- becomes more pronounced, robbing the lens of

> its youthful flexibility and visual acuity. To many members of the 40

> something set -- and nearly everyone older than 70 -- near objects appear

as

> a blur.

>

> The team at Washington University in St Louis, thinks its patented gel can

> clear up the problem, and tap into a $250 million market.

>

> " Our material should allow for focusing at any distance, similar to the

> vision of a healthy 20-year-old, " said researcher and graduate assistant

in

> biomedical engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Science,

> Madalene Fetsch.

>

> The artificial lens could restore clarity to the hard-of-seeing, including

> patients with cataracts, the vision obstructing clouding of the lens,

which

> affects an estimated one in seven seniors.

>

> " Cataract surgery is the most common surgery performed in the US today,

> especially in the over-65-year-old population, " said Barrie Soloway,

> director of vision correction at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in New

> York City.

>

> " Everybody over the age of 45 needs reading glasses, so the market for

this

> is huge. " He estimated the technology could benefit some 150 million

> Americans alone.

>

> " The accommodating intraocular lens could someday dominate the cataract

> marketplace, with a potential US market of $250 million and grow

> significantly more with worldwide acceptance provided that such an implant

> is demonstrably efficacious, stable, safe and free of side effects, " said

> principal investigator and associate professor of ophthalmology and visual

> sciences and professor of chemical engineering at Washington University,

> Nathan Ravi.

>

> Current treatments for presbyopia -- bifocals, special contact lenses,

> surgery -- fall short of the wide-ranging capabilities of the young human

> eye, he noted.

>

> " Presbyopia is corrected only partially by bifocals, a treatment as old as

> Benjamin Franklin! " Ravi noted.

>

> Even patients, who undergo the relatively new corrective laser surgery,

> often continue to need glasses for reading and up-close focusing,

scientists

> said.

>

> " It would be great if some day people had the option, at the same time as

> having surgery, to remove their cataracts, to be able to do away with

> corrective glasses and reading glasses or bifocals, " Fetsch said.

>

> " The potential for a material that would act like a young, healthy,

> accommodating lens is incredible. "

>

> In a significant step, her tests showed some promising similarities

between

> the gel and the natural lens, Fetsch reported at the 226th annual meeting

of

> the American Chemical Society in New York City.

>

> Fetsch and colleagues have already begun a process of refinement, buoyed

by

> the recent success of other scientists in improving the refractive index

in

> similar soft gels, called hydrogels.

>

> The three-dimensional networks of molecules swell but do not dissolve in

> water, making them attractive for a wide range of applications -- from

> thickening food and cosmetics to supporting drug delivery and tissue

> replacement to composing artificial skin and extended wear contact lenses.

>

> " By creating a material that is soft, viscoelastic (springy but viscous),

> dimensionally stable (no swelling), clear, non-toxic and injectable, we

> should be able to replace the aging human lens with a material that will

act

> as a healthy young lens with a minimal surgical procedure, " said Ravi, who

> also serves as director of ophthalmology at the Veterans Affairs Medical

> Centres.

>

> " We believe these gels are an important step towards creating a better

> solution for those suffering from presbyopia. "

>

> One advantage is only a very small injection hole -- too tiny to require

> stitches -- is needed to place the lens material in the eye, avoiding the

> common surgical technique of cutting a slit to insert a replacement lens,

> Fetsch said.

>

> The investigators plan to begin testing the material on animals by early

> next year.

>

>