Laser eye treatment is being developed to change a person’s eye color permanently, without negatively affecting vision. Dr. Gregg Homer, a Laguna Beach doctor, has been working to use a specially tuned laser to remove pigment from his patient’s eyes to change them from brown to blue, and his work is showing some success.
During the treatment, a computerized system scans the iris and identifies regions of pigmented cells to treat. Then the laser is aligned to these regions and the specially tuned laser scans for the regions multiple times, taking about 20 seconds. When the laser hits the pigmented cells, the cells’ structure changes and sends signals to the body that they are damaged. As a result, these cells are consumed, leaving behind cells that are not pigmented, producing a blue colored eye over time.
Patients who have received this treatment experienced darkening of eye color initially after the procedure, and after two to three weeks, their eyes turned blue.
This procedure is irreversible because the destroyed pigmented cells do not regenerate.
This treatment does come with some hesitation from some eye experts. Some eye experts warn that the eye treatment could cause glare and double vision, due to lack of pigment in the eye. In addition, since this is a new treatment, the long term effects are unknown.
The major concern over all eye treatments is the risk of blindness. Eye experts are concerned that the destroyed pigmented cells must go somewhere when they are destroyed. It may be possible that people who undergo this treatment may increase their chances of developing pigmentary glaucoma, where there is chronic seepage of melanin into the fluid of the eye, affecting vision.
Dr. Gregg Homer addresses these concerns by only removing pigmented cells from the surface of the eye, going about a third to half the thickness of the pigmented cells. As a result, people who are born with brown eyes and undergo the eye treatment remain less sensitive to light as people born with blue eyes.
Today, about nineteen million people already wear colored contact lenses, indicating a patient pool for future treatments. These colored contacts provide people who want a different eye color the option to cover their natural eye color. However, these contacts sometimes make eye color look unnatural and interfere with the person’s vision. Although, the contacts may be safer than this potential eye treatment, this new eye treatment increases the choices a person can make about their eye color.
Dr. Gregg Homer is working to start clinical trials for this treatment, and is currently looking for investments of $750,000. It will take time to test the safety and effectiveness of this treatment.
Researchers estimate the procedure will be available outside the U.S. in about 18 months, and in the U.S., treatments will begin in three years, with an estimated cost of about $5,000.
