Alternatives are on the way. CRT, or corneal reshaping, was approved by the FDA in June. There’s no surgery; doctors use computers to map the surface of the eye, then make lenses that patients wear while they sleep. The lenses reshape the epithelium, the surface of the cornea, redistributing cells from the center to the periphery to compensate for refractive errors and astigmatism. Vision is improved after only a week, though patients need to wear the lenses at least every other night or the effect subsides, according to Paragon Vision Systems (paragoncrt.com), the maker of CRT lenses. In FDA trials, 93.3 percent of patients ended up with 20/32 vision–good enough to drive without glasses. Mean-while, Pasadena, Calif.-based Calhoun Vision Systems is testing photo-sensitive silicone lenses, which would be surgically implanted into the eyes of cataract and other patients. After surgery, the lenses can be adjusted with flashes of light that rearrange their polymer structure, so any vision change could be fixed with a quick trip to the doctor. Approval in Europe is expected next year, but FDA trials in the United States won’t be complete until 2006.
