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PLASTIC SURGERY NEWS, SURGERY NEWS, COSMETIC SURGERY NEWS Dcember 2004 NEWS

Vision 2005

"There's no question about it: The first sign of mortality is diminished vision," says ophthalmologist Cary Silverman, MD. And baby boomers will not take this lightly — the good news is they won't have to because of new implants for your eyes. "These focusing implants are one of the hottest topics today," he says. The FDA has already approved one such implantable lens, the Verisyse lens, and others are in the pipeline.

"In the past, we only used implants to treat cataracts, but now we are using them for better focusing," he tells WebMD. "Some people will still be wearing contact lenses," he says. "Just as not everyone gets LASIK eye surgery, not everyone will do this, but it's certainly a lot easier and a lot more convenient than traditional contacts." These lenses are helpful for people who are not good candidates for LASIK because they have extreme nearsightedness or their corneas are too thin.

Many doctors will also begin to further refine vision with LASIK after these lenses are implanted, he says.