The laser already makes it possible to treat a certain number of visual defects. Following a clinical trial conducted on 24 patients at the Center for Eye Research in Melbourne, Australia, researchers found that it may also help prevent age-related blindness. To achieve this, the laser destroys harmful deposits accumulated in the eye in a fraction of a second, reports the British newspaper Daily Mail on its website.
In the study, patients exhibited the first signs of AMD (age-related macular degeneration), a disease of the retina. The laser treatment led to an improvement in vision for 64% of them after one year. “The patients said the treatment was completely painless,” said Professor Robyn Guymer, who led the study, “by ridding them of fatty deposits, we hope to reverse the degenerative process caused by the disease.”
A fast and precise laser
This is because deposits made up of lipids build up as the eye ages and becomes less efficient at removing dead cells. The researchers hope to be able to remove these deposits before complete loss of vision.
If laser treatments have attracted criticism in the past, it’s because they can cause damage to healthy tissue in the eye, says the doctor. Daily Mail. The laser used in this study, the Ellex 2RT, is so fast and precise that it appears to leave these tissues unharmed. The researchers point out, however, that deposits in the eyes are the result of many risk factors including obesity, heart disease and family history.
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