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Kamra Inlay Could Replace Reading Glasses if FDA Approves

| October 20, 2014 Comment

Kamra Inlay Could Replace Reading Glasses if FDA Approves – The Kamra corneal inlay helps patients see up close without impairing distance vision, but it’s not approved in the U.S. despite wide use in Europe.

Older Americans who find it more and more difficult to see up close might be able to ditch those reading glasses soon — assuming they’re up for expensive surgery. According to a study presented at the annual convention of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, “A thin ring inserted into the eye could soon offer a reading glasses-free remedy for presbyopia. the blurriness in vision experienced by many people over the age of 40”. The thin ring it’s talking about is AccuFocus’s Kamra, a small, thin disc inserted into the eye directly above the cornea, at a per-eye price, roughly equivalent to lasik.

The disc has a small hole over the pupil that lets in a narrow beam of light. If you’ve ever tested your vision by looking through a pinhole, you know that focusing light helps improve near-vision. Some people even wear glasses made primarily of pinholes. The Kamera Inlay essentially does that all the time, allowing patients to see up close without detracting from their vision at a distance. It’s billed as a glasses-free solution by clinicians who implant them. But none of those clinicians are operating in the US, even though the Kamra has been available to the public in Europe and Asia for years. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t approved its use … though it’s getting close.

This past summer, many within the agency said, the benefits of the Kamra outweigh the risks, though the vote went nearly against the product. The FDA still has some safety concerns and  will likely require further testing. But one of the major selling points of the corneal inlays is that if you have problems with them, they can be removed. Although, two surgeries just to get reading glasses might be too steep a price to pay for many patients.

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