Clinic offers 'pinhole' implant to presbyopes

A London clinic is said to be the first in the UK to offer a novel laser refractive surgery procedure for presbyopes based on the pinhole principle.

The Focus Clinic in Wimpole Street this week introduced the Z Kamra intracorneal inlay. The plastic inlay is a 3.9mm opaque disc with a 1.6mm pinhole, inserted into the cornea under a Lasik flap incision.

Claimed to be 'thinner than a red blood cell', the inlay incorporates '8,400 perforations which allow nutrition though the eye while blocking unfocused light'. Focus said the inlay was 'virtually unnoticeable to both the wearer and the onlooker'. The clinic's chief surgeon, Dr David Allamby, described Z Kamra as a permanent solution for treating presbyopia and said the same inlay worked for patients from age 40 to 70 years. The 10-minute outpatient procedure is usually performed on both eyes and costs £4,600.