A new eye drop can help some people take their glasses off for good.
Foti eye drops were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in October and just hit the market this month, according to The Independent.
Abbvie, a biopharmaceutical company, said the eye drops were initially developed to treat presbyopia, known as age-related blurry vision.
More than 128 million Americans - especially those over the age of 40 - suffer from some degree of presbyopia. People with this condition find it difficult to read words more closely than they did before.
According to the company, Foti drops are said to take 15 minutes to show effectiveness, and then work for six hours after being placed in the eye.
The drops effectively reduce the size of the pupil, allowing for clearer vision at close range without compromising long-range vision.
"Most adults deal with presbyopia, or difficulty near vision, with age," said Dr. Michael Severino, vice chairman of the board of directors at Abbvie. Starting around the age of 40, many find themselves using reading glasses, holding the text away, or even increasing the font size and brightness on screens to try to see more clearly.”
The company explains that a "statistically significant proportion" of participants in a clinical trial of eye drops found that after using the drops they could read three additional lines of text on the reading chart.
As with any pharmaceutical product, there are side effects; With Foti, the most common effects are headaches and occasional red eyes.
One of the tests, 54-year-old Tony Wright, spoke about her experience with eye drops.
"It's definitely a life-changing factor," she said. "I won't need my glasses as much, especially while working on the computer."
The 30-day eye drops are expected to cost $80 and will be marketed primarily to people aged 40 to 55. The drops become less effective after age 65. They are not intended for use while driving at night or working in low light conditions.
Source of the news: Middle East
