Many people undergo treatment, including LASIK, to improve their vision, ranging from blurriness to blindness. LASIK involves a laser-assisted surgery to reshape the cornea and correct vision. It can however result in negative side effects, prompting researchers to look for alternatives.
The goal is to remove laser and remodel the cornea rather than cut it in the initial animal tissue tests. Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College was among the team behind the new research.
Human corneas are dome-shaped, clear structures that sit at the front of the eye, bending light from surroundings and focusing it on the retina, where it is sent to the brain. But if the cornea is misshapen, it doesn’t focus properly on light, resulting in a blurry image. LASIK involves specialised lasers that reshape the cornea by removing precise sections of tissue. It is considered safe but has some risks and limitations. Cutting the cornea can compromise the structural integrity of the eye.
Hill and collaborator Brian Wong are exploring a process called electromechanical reshaping (EMR), hoping to reshape the cornea without the need for incisions. “The whole effect was discovered by accident,” explains Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine. “I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.”
In the body, shapes of collagen-containing tissues, which includes the cornea, are held in place by attractions of oppositely charged components. These tissues contain a lot of water, meaning that applying an electrical charge lowers their pH, making them more acidic. By altering the pH, the rigid attractions within the tissue become looser, making the shape more malleable. When the pH is restored to its original level, the tissue becomes locked into the new shape.
Past researchers used EMR to reshape cartilage-rich rabbit ears or to alter scars and skins in pigs. But one collagen-rich tissue that they hoped to explore was the cornea, doing so with the eyeball of a rabbit. The process took about the same length of time as LASIK, but involved fewer steps, less expensive equipment, and no incisions.
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