SAN ANTONIO – If you’re tired of looking for your “cheaters” so that you can read instructions, recipes, your cellphone news feed, or just a good book on your bedside table, a solution has now been approved by the FDA in the form of revolutionary eye drops.
Vuity is a prescription eye drop that shows results in temporarily treating presbyopia in clinical trials at Parkhurst NuVision Eye Clinic in San Antonio, and is now available locally.
Presbyopia is also known as age-related blurry near vision, and usually shows up in men and women in their 40s and 50s.
Eyeglasses that magnify are the most common approach for those who begin to lose their sight, and some surgical techniques can address it too. Now Vuity is an option that will be available by prescription only.
Dr. Bobby Saenz, clinic director at Parkhurt NuVision, which also offers Lasik, explained, “This drop actually uses the eye’s natural ability for the pupil to get smaller and as the pupil gets smaller, what happens is it extends our depth of focus and it allows us to see better up-close.”
One drop is placed in each eye, and approximately 15 minutes later, most people with this form of nearsightedness no longer have blurry vision. The affect on the pupil lasts anywhere from six to 10 hours.
“What’s going to happen is what we saw in the clinical studies that we did here because we were one of the principal investigators in that study. Patients definitely saw better up-close, and even some saw better at distance,” said Saenz.
It should only be used once a day, preferably in the morning, eliminating the need for reading glasses for the rest of the day.
Vuity is manufactured by Allergan and was approved for use this week. The first vial arrived at Parkhurst NuVision on Thursday.
Dr. Saenz says the eye drop will not likely be covered by most medical insurance and costs $79 for a month’s worth of drops. He also says it can be used in conjunction with other treatments and techniques for mitigating nearsightedness and farsightedness, including Lasik surgery.
There are other investigational eye drops also nearing completion in their clinical trials, so there may be more advances along the same lines.
For more information, you can contact your eye doctor or Parkhurst NuVision on Datapoint at www.sanantonio-lasik.com.
More on KSAT:
More screen time amid pandemic could lead to eye problems in children