In doing research on phakic iols, I stumbled across a procedure currently in non-human clinical trials outside the U.S. called a corneal onlay lens. I think it was described as a very biocompatible, cell growth supporting contact lens that is glued to one's cornea for permanent but reversible if necessary vision correction.

For a high myope like myself (-9d contacts), phakic iols seem to be the way to go, but a future permanent corneal onlay lens also sounds very appealing.

Do you think something like this will be an option in a few years or is it just wishful thinking on my part??

I like what im reading, they say its a special type of contact lense that can be left in indefinately. This could make lasik nearly obsolete if it gets its approval of being safe and efficient. They say its much less invastive than lasik and best of all it can be removed for any reason, including enhancements for a stronger pescription.

This reminds me of a fiction story where I read they put eyedrops of a special liquid that adheres to the cornea and acts like a contact lense. The more you add, the thicker it becomes and the more minus power it has. If you wish to remove it, a special liquid agent is inserted that dissolves the contact and its gone. unfortunately the side effect is that it caused eyes to become more myopic so after it was removed finally some myopia remained since the eye had gotten worse.

Back to reality, I have read they just begun human clinical trial testing. If this gets approved we may see a whole lot less myopes still dependant on glasses. I have also heard of a process where they use radio waves to flatten the cornea but now hearing about the implanted contact thing, they may as well abandon the radio wave thing. For hyperopes a different process is under development.

It would be great for me except ill need to be undercorrected or I wont be able to see clearly from near. Ill ask to be undercorrected by -1.5 diopters and achieve 20/70 distant vision but I do much more close work than distant work so id rather occssionally wear distance glasses than reading glasses most of the time.

The more I read about new ideas like the corneal onlay lens for myopia and the intracorneal lens for hyperopia and possibly myopia; the more it makes me want to hold off on pursuing vision correction whether lasik or phakic iol and stick with contacts for a while longer--Although intralase and new technology with lasik sure is tempting.
I know every procedure is going to have risks but I do like the idea of a procedure that is not as invasive and non reversible as lasik and not nearly as invasive as the phakic iol (who wouldn't).

I think you will wait a very long time for this technology. The main problem will be the thickness of the onlay lens in your prescription. Just like glasses and contact lenses, the higher your prescription, the thicker this implant which is placed under a flap. The overlying flap will no longer fit properly because of the increased bulk. Also, it will interfere with corneal metabolism. I suspect it will play a role in farsighted corrections before nearsighted corrections, but this is just an (educated) guess.

Dean Dornic, MD

I was under the impression that its placed on the surface of your eye like a contact lense and is "glued" on. The onlay lense is made of special materials that can last decades. Do you or anyone else know much more about this? It looks appealing for me and as an alternative to lasik

I was thinking the same thing ,but I really do not know the facts on it. I thought the corneal onlay lens and intracorneal lens were different. I have read about technology called an intracorneal lens that is currently in an FDA trial for hyperopia which is great - but not for me. I understood that the corneal onlay is a permanent surface correction and not placed under a flap. The following are some sites where I read about the corneal onlay:
http://www.visioncrc.org/research_development/myopia.asp

http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=activity&id=ContactLens

http://www.iovs.org/cgi/content/full/43/10/3196

The possibility of this sure sounds cool and provides for some great wishful thinking, but I know that "in development" still means highly likely to not work as planned.

I appreciate the opinions and would love to hear more.

I am bumping this post so others can read it. This is too interesting to pass. My pupils are large so onlay lense may work better for me than lasik

I just read more about it today. Not much is known about them, when can we expect trials for those(corneal onlay lenses) in the US to begin?