VISION CORRECTION: NEW METHOD IS BETTER THAN LASIK
A New, Safer Alternative to LASIK May Be on the Horizon
Scientists are working on a new, non-surgical method to correct vision by reshaping the cornea with electricity rather than lasers. Early tests on rabbits show this approach can fix nearsightedness in minutes, and it doesn’t require any cutting.
Vision problems affect millions of people in the U.S., from mild blurriness to severe impairment. While many rely on glasses or contacts, hundreds of thousands opt for corrective eye surgeries like LASIK each year. LASIK works by using lasers to reshape the cornea, but the procedure still involves cutting into the tissue, which can carry risks and side effects.
Now, researchers are testing a technique that skips the incisions altogether. Michael Hill, a chemistry professor at Occidental College, shared his team’s findings at the American Chemical Society’s Fall 2025 meeting. The new method, called electromechanical reshaping (EMR), changes the cornea’s shape by using electrical currents to alter its chemical structure.
The cornea acts as the eye’s front lens, bending light so it focuses correctly on the retina. When the cornea is misshapen, vision becomes blurry. LASIK uses lasers to remove tiny sections of corneal tissue, but this can weaken the eye’s structure. Hill points out that even though LASIK is high-tech, it’s still essentially surgery—just with lasers instead of scalpels.
Hill and his collaborator, Brian Wong from the University of California, Irvine, developed the EMR process almost by accident while studying how electricity can make tissues more pliable. The technique relies on the fact that charged molecules and water hold the cornea’s shape. By applying a controlled electric current with a special platinum “contact lens,” they temporarily make the tissue more acidic and flexible. The cornea can then be molded into a new shape, which is set once the tissue returns to its normal pH.
In their experiments, the team placed these platinum lenses over rabbit eyes in a saline solution. After about a minute of low-voltage current, the corneas took on the shape of the lens—achieving vision correction in about the same time as LASIK, but with no incisions or expensive laser equipment.
The researchers tested this on 12 rabbit eyes, most of which were made artificially nearsighted. In every case, the eyes were corrected to the targeted focusing power, and the cells survived the process due to careful control of the electrical conditions. The technique even showed potential for reversing certain types of chemical cloudiness in the cornea, a problem that currently requires a full transplant to fix.
While these results are promising, the research is still in its early days. The following steps include more detailed animal studies, including tests on live rabbits, and exploring the full range of vision problems that EMR might treat, such as farsightedness and astigmatism. Funding challenges remain, but the team believes this technique could offer a widely applicable, much less expensive, and reversible alternative to current laser eye surgeries.
Technical Details
The cornea provides the majority of the eye’s focusing power due to its precise arrangement of collagen fibers. Existing surgical options like LASIK and PRK are effective but expensive and permanently weaken the cornea. EMR uses brief electrical pulses to disrupt the bonds holding the tissue’s structure, making it temporarily moldable. After reshaping, the tissue’s natural chemistry is restored, locking in the new shape. Imaging and cellular studies suggest the method maintains both the cornea’s structure and the health of its cells.
The National Eye Institute and the John Stauffer Charitable Trust support this research.
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