WEBMINAR ON PRESBYOPIA
13th october 2012

 

Presbyopia is not a disease. Presbyopia is due to a loss of accommodation which comes slowly with age. It appears about 40-45 years and finishes towards 65 years.

Presbyopia is the fact of the ageing of the crystalline lens. It starts as of 2 years. The crystalline lens is getting thicker very slowly and its accommodative capacity decreases to become manifest towards 40 years when the patient will have to elongate the arm for a better short sight.

It is felt earlier and more intensely by the hypermetropics and the emmetropics than by the presbyopes.

The presbyope, because of the myopia, can compensate for the defect of accommodation by the myopia which enables to have a clear close sight.

There are several theories of accommodation. Helmholtz’s, builded up in 1855, is the most recognized. It imputes the loss of accommodation to a loss of the zonular tension, a sclerosis of the crystalline lens and an atrophy of the ciliary muscles. This theory still could not be proved conclusively in physiology. In 1991, Dr Chachard proposed another theory on the fall of the zonular tension on the crystalline lens.

Thanks to new techniques recently introduced into our three clinics, it is possible to correct presbyopia. For each eye, there is a suitable technique determined by preliminary tests and the patients can benefit from it from now on.

The various surgical techniques which make it possible to correct presbyopia are:

Corneal surgery

Scleral surgery

Intraocular Implant IOL(post cataract)

We have decided to bring together the best international specialists on the subject to discuss the best surgical techniques which make it possible to correct presbyopia. Indeed, following the baby-boom in Europe and the United States, tens of million young presbyopes are reaching fifty years without having found an improvement with their progressive or bifocal glasses or contact lenses. Currently, it is possible to correct presbyopia for a certain number of patients and to improve this extremely severe handicap since it’s a sign of the beginning of ageing.

During these two days, these surgeons will meet to discuss the best technique used among various patients who increase from day to day in their consultations.

The Clinique de l’Oeil in Geneva, the Centre Chirurgical in Lausanne and AugenglattZentrum in Zürich are the precursors of new techniques to improve or correct presbyopia. The doctors, who work on them, will be glad to inform you about the various techniques, which they use.