Moulded Lenses - Non Lasik Treatement

(San Antonio)There may soon come a day when glasses become obsolete as new laser technologies designed to improve vision are perfected.

Since 1996, when a procedure known as laser in-situ keratomileusis, or LASIK, was approved in the United States, people have been lining up to have their vision permanently corrected.

By 2000, Americans spent $2.8 billion on 1.5 million LASIK procedures, according to Market Scope, a St. Louis-based research firm that tracks the LASIK business. That was far more than people spent on other established elective surgeries, such as liposuction, breast implants and face lifts. Since then, the market has dropped off slightly each year. But recently it has picked up again with the introduction of new technologies that have made the procedure even more accurate.

Still, only about 10 percent of people who are candidates for LASIK have opted for the procedure, according to Market Scope, and many experts believe there is still a large market to be tapped. One of the reasons for this may be people's fear of the surgical procedure.

"A blade is the last thing most people want near their eye, which is why many of the 55 million Americans estimated to be eligible for LASIK are still wearing glasses or contacts," says Dr. Michael Gordon, assistant clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of California-San Diego and medical director of the Gordon Binder Vision Institute.

But if the thought of having someone slice open your eyeball makes you skittish, there is a non-surgical alternative that has been slowly gaining in popularity.

Accelerated orthokeratology, also known as corneal molding, involves the use of specially designed retainer contact lenses to gently reshape the front surface of the eye (called the cornea) to eliminate or reduce nearsightedness (myopia) -- otherwise known as astigmatism -- and, in some cases, farsightedness. The principle is similar in concept to the use of a dental retainer utilized by an orthodontist to realign teeth.

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