Eye implants make dreams come true

By MARTIN JOHNSTON, Health Reporter


Swimming without having to squeeze her eyes shut and watching dusty stockcar races without tears streaming down her face - this is the kind of summer Joan Dempster wants.

The 40-year-old Aucklander, severely short-sighted since childhood, believes her dreams are within her grasp after having a form of eye surgery that is rare in New Zealand.

Special contact lenses have been permanently implanted into her eyes - first in her left eye, last month, then in her right, on December 8.

She still needs minor surgery to correct another vision problem, but is already thrilled with the implants.

"It's really cool not having to wear contact lenses or glasses ever again. That's just awesome.

"I'm looking forward to going swimming without worrying about losing contact lenses ... and to be able to go to Western Springs to watch the sprint cars. Any dust with contact lenses and you're in strife."

The implants have been used overseas since 1990 but only a handful of patients have had the surgery in New Zealand, as specialists waited for improvements in the technology and proof from trials.

Joan Dempster's ophthalmologist, Dr Dean Corbett, is one of only two eye surgeons in the country to offer the surgery. The other, in Christchurch, has had only three suitable patients in five years and a third, Dr Trevor Gray, plans to start operating soon at his Auckland clinic.

In the operation, done under local anaesthetic, the surgeon makes a 3.2mm-long slit in the patient's cornea, the eye's clear covering, to inject the initially rolled-up lens. The lens, much softer than even a soft contact lens, is moved through the dilated pupil and sits between the coloured iris and the person's own lens.

Dr Corbett has implanted eight lenses, made by Swiss company Staar, in six patients since August.

The first three achieved vision as good as that required of pilots. The rest were between that and the standard needed for a driver's licence.

That was an outstanding result for people who were extremely short-sighted, Dr Corbett said.

"It's something that can really transform the lives of people who are otherwise contact-lens intolerant or don't get a good quality of vision through glasses."

Dr Gray, whose clinic has six patients booked for the surgery early next year, said renewed interest in New Zealand was sparked by a study of more than 700 eyes, published in a United States eye journal this year.

The study, financed by Staar, concludes that the implants are safer and more effective than Lasik (Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) for very short-sighted patients.

Contact implants

* People considered suitable for implants include those so long- or short-sighted that LASIK surgery, in which a surgeon reshapes the cornea using a laser, is unsuitable or even unsafe.

* The procedure does not help people who need reading glasses because of their increasing age.

* It can cost $3500 to $4500 an eye compared with around $5000 for both eyes for the commonest form of LASIK.