gms | German Medical Science

Corneal laser surgery can be used to correct presbyopia by inducing (negative) spherical aberration which increases depth of focus by about 1.5 D, thereby providing some intermediate vision. The downside of this approach is a significant decrease in quality of vision, which results in night vision problems, reduced patient satisfaction and loss of best-corrected visual acuity at distance and near. For example, following PresbyMAX LASIK, 15% of eyes lost two or more lines of best-corrected distance visual actuiy [1]. Following INTRACOR, 7.1% lost two or more lines of best-corrected distance visual actuiy, 11.5% lost two or more lines of best-corrected near visual acutiy, 19.6% were not satisfied, and 12.3% would not have INTRACOR again [2].

Because of the significant side-effects described above, the author does not recommend to use presbyopia-correcting laser surgery on the cornea, especially in view of the fact that reversability has not been demonstrated yet.