KAMRA Inlay. Towson, MD

I am sitting at my PC writing this review without the need for my reading glasses!! I am 51 yrs old, started having mild presbyopia around at 45, it continually worsened and by age 50, I was sporting around about 12 pair of reading glasses!

When I heard about the KAMRA Inlay procedure, I said, "Sign me up!!" Of course it was prior to being FDA approved, so I had to wait. In the meantime I did some internet research and found it had been marketed in approximately 33 other countries, with over 20,000 inlays implanted from 2011 to 2013. When it was finally approved here in the U.S. in April 2015, I looked into it and found there to be only one doctor in Maryland performing the procedure. They started offering seminars to introduce the procedure in June. I attended one in July, which included a preliminary exam and some eye tests to see if I was a good candidate (because not everyone who wears reading glasses and wants this procedure is a good candidate.) I was in fact a good candidate, so I then needed to have additional testing prior to being able to schedule the surgery. That all went perfectly and I scheduled it for Aug. 2015. I ended up having to reschedule to Jan. 2016.

So I just had the procedure last week and will try to provide a comprehensive review.

I arrived at Dr. Kameen's office with my prescriptions in hand (3 of them). Shortly after they took me back for a re-exam of my eyes prior to surgery, then they handed me two lovely little valiums to relax me! :) I waited about 20-30 min, then Dr. Kameen came in to speak with me, go over the procedure and said he would be back shortly to get me.

I was taken back to the procedure room and laid on the table. Dr. Kameen told me what he was doing every step of the way. They inserted the numbing drops and waited a bit for those to take effect. They lowered a device onto my eye to keep it open, then using a femtosecond laser, a small pocket is made just beneath the surface of my eye in the cornea. Dr. Kameen placed the inlay in the pocket, centered with my line-of-sight (the inlay is only placed in one eye, the non-dominant eye.)

Then voila, it's done! No pain, no real discomfort, the eye just feels a little scratchy and a bit blurry. They took me to another room to rest for a bit and then examine my eye before sending me home with dark glasses and protective eyewear to sleep! I was instructed to go home and take a 3 hour nap, and I was very happy to oblige! Then began the ritual of hourly eye drops! Lubricating eye drops hourly, then antibiotic and steroid drops 4 times a day. This was only for 1 week. At my 1 week checkup, I stopped the antibiotic and steroid drops, and started another drop , and this will continue for 3 months, along with the lubricating drops, both 4 times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime.)

So from start to finish the process was a breeze! I haven’t needed my reading glasses at all, however my vision is not perfect yet. I still have a bit of blurriness and I have to blink a lot to lubricate my eyes. It also occasionally feels like there is something like a cat hair or piece of dirt in my eye. I just put in more of the lubricating drops and that helps! It takes 90-120 days for the cornea to heal completely, and each person’s healing time is different. When I went for my 1 week checkup the doctor did an exam and said I was about 20% healed, he said I was a quick healer.

I will update after each of my checkups, my next one is at one month!

I highly recommend this procedure to anyone that is tired of reading glasses and the inconveniences they create to someone who has otherwise perfect vision. I can only say great things about the procedure and how it has affected my quality of life!

Just a disclaimer! If you wear glasses for distance vision issues, or you have an astigmatism, the KAMRA™ inlay procedure can be performed in conjunction with LASIK, reducing your need for glasses at all distances.