The Change Mariner

Keratoplasty: Surgical Fix for Near-Sightedness

New York Times:

"I'm a little vain," Mr. Miller conceded. Though the new procedure, which uses radio waves to correct near-vision problems, had not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for his problem, he had it done last winter.

"It was a no-brainer," said Mr. Miller, who no longer needs reading glasses. "I can't imagine why anyone who could afford it would not do it."

Biology and vanity are collaborating to make vision correction techniques a boom market, as some 78 million aging Americans seem intent on seeing well but looking good. Granny glasses? Grandpa's bifocals? Not for them. Offer them the option of paying $1,500 for a three-minute remedy and the eyeglasses are gone.

"The baby boomers are kind of a picky bunch," said David Harmon, president of MarketScope, an eye care market research company in Baldwin, Mo., near St. Louis. "They want to be fixed."

Last month, the F.D.A. approved the latest surgical procedure, called conductive keratoplasty, to correct a common near-vision problem for people whose eyesight is otherwise excellent, in a minimally invasive way.

Posted by Bob King at April 11, 2004 08:56 AM | TrackBack
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