About Conductive Keratoplasty
What if you could reduce your dependence on reading glasses - those unwelcome reminders that age is catching up with you? What if you could enjoy your morning paper without squinting? Read a menu without difficulty? Even work on the computer without headaches? What if there was a procedure for your farsightedness that didn't involve cutting or a laser? Today, the question isn't "what if?" Today the answer is CK -- a new vision procedure that can help decrease your dependence on glasses to see things close up.
Conductive Keratoplasty (CK) is the only procedure designed for farsightedness that uses radiofrequency energy instead of a laser to correct your vision. Approved by the FDA in 2002 after five years of successful clinical trials in the US and abroad, CK has proven to be a safe, effective alternative to laser surgery.
How does CK work?
CK uses a pen-shaped instrument with a cool tip as thin as a human hair. After application of a topical anesthetic (eye drops), Dr. Tripp will apply radiofrequency energy in a circular pattern. This pattern is along the periphery of the cornea and therefore minimizes interference with your line of sight. The procedure is done in our office. You're here about one hour on surgery day. The CK treatment itself takes approximately fifteen minutes.
CK is considered painless. Once finished, you don't have to wear a patch and can usually return to work the next day. Vision continues to improve over the course of the first month.
What results can I expect?
Near Vision Improvement
Two-thirds of our patients have good distance vision and want to improve their near vision. As a result, they only require CK in one eye. While this sounds odd, it is a technique used widely in contact lenses and LASIK for patients over age 40. The advantage with CK is that the improvement in near vision comes with little change in distance vision in the treated eye. It is similar to the sound you hear from stereo speakers. A different sound comes from each one, but they work together to provide the entire range of sound. That is what you want to happen with your vision - to see a more complete range of distance and near again.
Our goal in offering CK is to restore functional near vision for those who are over 40. For our patients, the average improvement in near vision is demonstrated below. For these same patients, on average, they lose no distance vision binocularly.
Distance Vision Improvement
The remaining one-third of our patients require CK in both eyes. They have become more farsighted with age, and benefit from having treatment in one eye to sharpen their distance vision, and treatment in the other eye to sharpen their near vision. These patients experience the same improvement as demonstrated above in near vision, and improve on average from 20/40 to 20/20 at distance.
Our outcomes are updated monthly, and you will be provided with specific improvement results for our patients at your CK consultation.
InSight Named CK Center of Excellence
InSight was recently honored by Refractec as a Center of Excellence for our work in the treatment of farsightedness with Conductive Keratoplasty (CK). As one of only three designated Center of Excellence practices nationwide, InSight has been instructing surgeons and their refractive staff on the implementation and optimization of CK in their practice.