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Do you guys think a new cure for this will be invented in the next five or ten years? I can't afford lasik, and after reading all of the things that can go wro

by bioweek 17y ago

Do you guys think a new cure for this will be invented in the next five or ten years? I can't afford lasik, and after reading all of the things that can go wrong, I'm not even sure if I would want it. Any chance there will be some new, inexpensive technology invented soon? Or maybe everyone will start wearing glasses for augmented reality anyway so it won't matter.

brown9-2 17y ago
Is Lasik a "cure" or just a way to correct around the underlying problems?
- johngunderman 17y ago
  Lasik isn't really a cure. It simply changes the curvature of your eye so that you can focus on distance better. However, it actually makes you less able to focus on close items, so it's a trade-off.
  - gaius 17y ago
    And, at least when I looked into it, it reduces your night vision.
NikkiA 17y ago
Pretty sure I read an article a few weeks ago about how they'd found they could just dump some of your own stem cells on contact lenses, and your natural lenses would adjust back to near perfect vision in a few weeks. They didn't appear to even have to do anything complicated with them. So yes, I think a 'cure' will be developed in the next few years.
- bioweek 17y ago
  Wow that would be amazing. Any chance you could track down that article? Wouldn't such a cure be 10-20 years away? I mean they're just now having the first clinical trials for stem cell therapies developed 10 years ago, right?
  - NikkiA 17y ago
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stem-cells-used-to-restore-sight-for-corneal-disease-sufferers/story-e6frg6nf-1225717205094 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stem-cells-used-... It's corneal damage it's repairing, not the lenses, I guess I misremembered - unless it was a different trial, but even so may well be transferable to the lens anyway, stem cell treatments tend to work a lot like 'magic' :). Maybe 5 years is a little optimistic, but 10 should be reasonable, if they're using your own stem cells there may even be fast track options. I think a lot of the 'just getting to trials now' treatments had been held up by various ethics and legality issues over the last few years - even when we're talking about adult stem cells, there seemed to be opposition based on ethical grounds.
    - brown9-2 17y ago
      I don't think it would be applicable. Myopia has to do with the curvature of the eye causing images to misfocus, it isn't really about cellular or tissue damage.

by bioweek 17y ago

brown9-2 17y ago

Is Lasik a "cure" or just a way to correct around the underlying problems?

johngunderman 17y ago
Lasik isn't really a cure. It simply changes the curvature of your eye so that you can focus on distance better. However, it actually makes you less able to focus on close items, so it's a trade-off.
- gaius 17y ago
  And, at least when I looked into it, it reduces your night vision.

NikkiA 17y ago

Pretty sure I read an article a few weeks ago about how they'd found they could just dump some of your own stem cells on contact lenses, and your natural lenses would adjust back to near perfect vision in a few weeks. They didn't appear to even have to do anything complicated with them. So yes, I think a 'cure' will be developed in the next few years.

bioweek 17y ago
Wow that would be amazing. Any chance you could track down that article? Wouldn't such a cure be 10-20 years away? I mean they're just now having the first clinical trials for stem cell therapies developed 10 years ago, right?
- NikkiA 17y ago
  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stem-cells-used-to-restore-sight-for-corneal-disease-sufferers/story-e6frg6nf-1225717205094 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stem-cells-used-... It's corneal damage it's repairing, not the lenses, I guess I misremembered - unless it was a different trial, but even so may well be transferable to the lens anyway, stem cell treatments tend to work a lot like 'magic' :). Maybe 5 years is a little optimistic, but 10 should be reasonable, if they're using your own stem cells there may even be fast track options. I think a lot of the 'just getting to trials now' treatments had been held up by various ethics and legality issues over the last few years - even when we're talking about adult stem cells, there seemed to be opposition based on ethical grounds.
  - brown9-2 17y ago
    I don't think it would be applicable. Myopia has to do with the curvature of the eye causing images to misfocus, it isn't really about cellular or tissue damage.