European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 27, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Toyo Erhealth tailoring the Cornea to improve vision the Cornea along with the Lens is responsible for focusing Light rays on the Retina where nerve cells pick up visual images. In nearsighted people he Cornea May curve out too sharply so that the rays Are focused in front of the Retina in farsightedness the Cornea is too Flat and a focus Falls behind the Retina. Experimenting with a form of laser that emits Cool beams doctors have found they can reshape the Cornea in a computer controlled process that removes less than 10 percent of the Cornea. Cornea nearsightedness myopia Cornea to Correct nearsightedness the laser planes Down the front surface of the Cornea flattening it slightly. Farsightedness hyperopia focus to Correct farsighted Ness curvature of the Cornea is increased by etching a ring around the Central optical zone. Will lasers eliminate need for eyeglasses begin Okolata new York time doctors Are testing a dramatic new laser surgery that the Hope will Correct vision pm bless and eliminate the need for. Eyeglasses in Many people. The procedure which takes from 30 to 60 seconds employs a laser to sculpt the Cornea of he Eye. Correcting nearsightedness. Barsigh Ludness and astigmatism ,. The method had already been tested in animals and on Blind eyes where h could do no harm. Now Testa have started Iri the United Stales on the eyes of human patients who can see. " ". This has the potential for an instantaneous solution to the problems of poor vision said or. Marguerite Mcdonald an ophthalmologist at Louisiana stale University medical Schod in new Orleans it could revolutionize Eye care.". But the experts caution that it is not yet ready for genera1use. " or. George Waring of Emory University in Atlanta said that the treatment May sometimes leave Cloudy scars on the Cornea and May not always give the correction thai was desired. V. -.-".  " although wailing believes the procedure will eventually work consistently and Eft clively More research is needed he said the new procedure is dil Terent irom radial Kera Litomy a procedure to Correct nearsightedness in which slits Are Cut in the Cornea changing its shape so thai Light is focused on the proper Point in the Eye. Radial Kera Litomy was developed by doctors in Japan and the soviet Union and has been performed on More. Than 100.000 americans Bui Many doctors Havo questioned its effectiveness Only about 1 percent of the ophthalmologists in the United states perform the operation rather Ihan relying on soils Cut through the Cornea the new surgery uses an exciter laser which does not heal tissue. Instead the laser Breaks chem Cai Bonds and the affected cells Are wasted away from he surface of a Eye said or. Charles r. Munnerlyn of visa Ino in Sunnyvale Calif. Visa makes the laser used by Mcdonald and her colleagues. By removing some Eya tissue the treatment changes the Cornea s curvature correcting vision problems. Other lasers which heat Eye tissue Are used elsewhere in the Eye bul cannot be used on the Cornea Munnerlyn explained that exciter lasers consist of Light w rth vary Short wavelengths about iwo to three times Shorter Nan visible  Shorter the Wavelength the More Energy the Light has Munnerlyn said and the Energy of the exciter laser is great enough to break chemical Bonds. The lasers with longer wavelengths work by boiling the water inside cells killing the Calls. ,.  but Munnerlyn said the Energy is also transmuted to surrounding tissues damaging hem. The Cornea is Crystal Clear and the slightest bit of heat damage causes it to become opaque Mcdonald said in 1983, Columbia presbyterian. Medical Center in new York became interested in corneal surgery with examen lasers alter hearing sports about. Military experiments with animals.,. The military which uses animals to test All lasers for their Al feels on the Eye had noticed that exciter tasers caused a strange depression in the Cornea Trokel said. Inquiring further about his strange depression Trokel Learned that the lasers apparently removed some corneal Lissue. This discovery led Trokel to Experiment on eyes from cow cadavers and he Lound that he could reshape the Corneas. Excited by the results International research learns acquired exciter lasers commonly used to make computer chips and tried to adopt Triem for Eye surgery. But the experiments with animals were  initial Ellhu slam quickly faded Mcdonald said. People began to see scarring and within a year or two. People became very  the doctors began achieving some Success after tuesday december 27. 19b8 companies began making exciter Lasara specifically designed for Eye surgery. These lasers were controlled by computers and the beams were tuned to the Best Wavelength Lor Eye  beams were also properly shaped and focused beams with these How machines  had Only to immobilize the patient s Eye and dial into the computer the corneal correction desired. After operating on animal eyes Writh some Success several groups received permission irom the food and drug administration to test the lasers on the Corneas of volunteers who had no vision in the Eye because their Retinas or optic nerves were damaged. The experiments would simply test the laser s ability to shape the Eye volunteers would receive no Benefit from the treatment. The groups included one led by Mcdonald and or. Herbert Kaufman at Louisiana stale University and one Ted by or. Daniel Taylor of the University of Connecticut. Taylor who has operated on about 100 human Corneas from cadavers and in monkeys in the past year and a half said thai some problems have to be worked out. He explained that in these utes with monkeys there is a very very minute degree of haziness that develops in. The Glrst  but it seems to Clear Soma he said and doctors Are not sure whether it is significant. There also seems to be some Healing of the Corneas so thai the eventual result is not quite he same As the initial effect. We lose about one third of the original change Tanto said we have a very Good track record bul ii Only works some of the time he said. But in his experiments he sees no particular reasons Why the operation should work some Limos but not others. Mcdonald said that she and Kaufman were not finding any significant problems with the Erdmer surgery we routinely get vary very pref Stathe  she said without any clouding of the Cornea the new surgery should give belter results than radial Ficera Litomy and should a safer the experts said the stars and stripes 17