"I was in the Navy doing suturing and stuff," Timmerman told Ivanhoe. "That's when I really noticed I couldn't tie a knot. I couldn't see the end of a knot."
It happens to most people by age 45 -- the lens in the eye becomes stiff and unable to focus. Doctors hope they can bring back that near vision with this tiny implantable lens.
In a 10-minute surgery, a surgeon uses a laser to make a flap in the cornea. A donut-shaped lens -- thinner than a human hair -- is placed underneath the flap.
While LASIK surgery can restore a person's distance vision, this procedure restores sight up-close. The implant blocks unfocused light, and a small opening allows focused light to enter, improving the range of vision and making it easier to see clearly up close.
"It's the first time that we're able to see beautifully at distance and at near out of the same eye," Thomas S. Tooma, M.D., medical director of TLC Laser Eye Centers in Newport Beach, Calif., told Ivanhoe.
In a European study, 81 percent of patients achieved 20/20 vision after one year.
Timmerman is one of the first to test the experimental lens. So far, he likes what he sees.
"I was helping a friend the other day in his garage putting a cabinet together, and he was looking for a screw, and he wears glasses and he couldn't find it," Timmerman said. "I was like, 'Right there. There it is.'"
Timmerman's not tossing his glasses yet, but he's not relying on them nearly as often.
The AcuFocus corneal implant is in clinical trials for adults age 45 to 60 who suffer from presbyopia. Dr. Tooma says the lens should be on the market in two years or less.
