Experimental Contacts May Ease Pain After Laser Eye Surgery
Experimental Contacts May Ease Pain After Laser Eye Surgery
Jan. 20, 2012 -- Researchers are developing contact lenses that may one day deliver painkilling drugs directly to the cornea after laser eye surgery.
The contact lenses rely on nanotechnology to slow the delivery of anesthetic medications.
Researchers say that if the technique works, it could eliminate the need for patients to repeatedly apply numbing eye drops after their photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) procedures.
“This would represent a version of time-release which would reduce the number of drops that a patient would need,” says Robert F. Steinert, MD, an eye surgeon who is professor and chair of the department of ophthalmology at the University of California at Irvine.
Steinert, who is also a spokesman for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, reviewed a study of the new technology but was not involved in the research.
“I think it would add convenience, but it probably isn’t a game changer,” he says, noting that most patients are currently able to control their pain after PRK by using eye drops every couple of hours for the first three days or so, and they already have to wear bandage contact lenses while their eyes heal.
Slideshow: What Eye Problems Look Like
The contact lenses rely on nanotechnology to slow the delivery of anesthetic medications.
Researchers say that if the technique works, it could eliminate the need for patients to repeatedly apply numbing eye drops after their photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) procedures.
“This would represent a version of time-release which would reduce the number of drops that a patient would need,” says Robert F. Steinert, MD, an eye surgeon who is professor and chair of the department of ophthalmology at the University of California at Irvine.
Steinert, who is also a spokesman for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, reviewed a study of the new technology but was not involved in the research.
“I think it would add convenience, but it probably isn’t a game changer,” he says, noting that most patients are currently able to control their pain after PRK by using eye drops every couple of hours for the first three days or so, and they already have to wear bandage contact lenses while their eyes heal.
Slideshow: What Eye Problems Look Like
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