Presbyopia "targets" those born in the 1980s, and refractive surgery resolves the "midlife crisis"

Ms. Hu, 43, is facing this dilemma: She is still young but her eyes are "old". On September 10, during a follow-up examination one week after the operation, Ms. Hu was very satisfied with the results of the operation. She excitedly said that she finally got rid of the trouble of wearing two pairs of glasses for myopia and presbyopia.

Ms. Hu, who lives in Wuchang, has been wearing 500-degree myopia glasses for more than 30 years. In the past two years, she has developed symptoms of "presbyopia". Because she cannot see clearly both near and far, she needs to wear two different pairs of glasses to switch between them. It is very inconvenient to take them off and put them on again, and she is prone to visual fatigue.

In order to completely solve these problems, Ms. Hu came to the Aier Eye Hospital affiliated to Wuhan University to seek an effective solution. After examination, Ms. Hu's eyes were myopic 500 degrees, presbyopic 150 degrees, and the corneal morphology was normal.

After receiving the consultation, Zhang Qingsong, director of the hospital's refractive department, said that conventional excimer laser myopia correction surgery could not meet Ms. Hu's needs for both near and far vision, and recommended femtosecond laser presbyopia correction surgery. After full communication and simulated trial wearing, Director Zhang Qingsong decided to adopt an optimized monocular vision design, that is, the dominant eye is in emmetropia, the non-dominant eye is in a mild myopic state, and a certain degree of negative spherical aberration is introduced.

Director Zhang Qingsong introduced that there is no clear standard for setting the target refractive power. The surgeon determines the surgical plan based on the preoperative examination and the patient's needs, and performs individualized cutting to meet the patient's needs for far and near vision. In order to properly deal with the problem of insufficient accommodation while correcting existing refractive errors during laser corneal refractive surgery, there are currently three design plans for laser corneal refractive surgery for patients with age-related insufficient accommodation and refractive errors based on the postoperative status. In addition to the above optimized monocular vision plan, there is also a binocular myopia plan: mild myopia in both eyes after surgery; monocular vision plan: the dominant eye is in emmetropia and the non-dominant eye is in mild myopia.

At present, the proportion of myopic people over 40 years old in my country who also suffer from presbyopia is increasing year by year and is showing a trend of becoming younger. Laser surgery is not just a privilege for young people. Middle-aged people can also improve their vision and quality of life through this corneal refractive surgery. It is suitable for people with hyperopia, emmetropia and myopia who have already developed presbyopia symptoms. Director Zhang Qingsong said that presbyopia refractive surgery is more difficult than myopia refractive surgery. It requires full consideration of the patient's long-term eye needs and the individual differences of each patient, and finding the best balance between the patient's binocular vision and myopia and presbyopia.