Harbin Clinic Eye Center is also the first to bring CK to our area providing patients with an option to read without glasses.

Conductive Keratoplasty or CK is a relatively new procedure that reduces dependence on reading glasses. NearVision CK is performed at the Harbin Clinic using the ViewPoint CK System. This procedure is quick often taking only a few minutes and can be conveniently performed in our office using only topical anesthetic eye drops.

In order to understand why NearVision CK works it is important to understand what happens to the eye as we age. Perhaps the most common aging change is that the lens inside the eye becomes less flexible and therefore loses its ability to focus on up-close objects. This condition is called presbyopia.

Viewpoint CK System

Presbyopia affects most people by the age of 40 and almost everyone by the age of 50. The traditional treatment has been the use of reading glasses, bifocals, or contact lenses. The good news is that those with presbyopia are now able to safely reduce their dependence on reading glasses with CK. NearVision CK is performed at the Harbin Clinic Eye Center using the ViewPoint® CK System, the only technology approved by the FDA for the temporary improvement of near vision in presbyopic patients.

With CK, there is no cutting involved. Instead, the NearVision CK System used at the Harbin Clinic employs a pen-shaped instrument with a cool tip as thin as a human hair.
First, the amount of treatment needed is determined during pre-operative testing. Patients receive either 8, 16, or 24 treatment spots depending on their needs. The cornea is marked accordingly.

Yellow marks show typical areas that RF spots
are placed on the surface of the eye

This Keratoplast tip is then used to apply to appropriate number of radiofrequency (RF) energy spots to the peripheral cornea in a circular pattern.

Keratoplast tip applying a treatment spot

This peripheral placement is advantageous in that it minimizes interference with the patient’s line of sight. The RF energy modifies the topographical (surface) curvature of the cornea, making it temporarily steeper and improving near vision.

Side view of cornea showing steeper cornea due to CK treatment

In FDA clinical studies, 98% of patients were able to read newspaper-size print without reading glasses after the CK procedure (12-month follow-up data).

Additionally, CK can be used to treat farsightedness (hyperopia). Farsightedness is often confused with presbyopia because it also affects near vision. According to a study by Johns Hopkins University, up to 62% of people over the age of 40 suffer from hyperopia. Many of these people have been hyperopic for years, but their more youthful eyes were able to compensate. When the loss of flexibility occurs because of age, the ability to compensate is also lost. The FDA has also approved the technology used to perform CK on patients with hyperopia.

NearVision CK is considered painless. Once finished, you don't have to wear a patch and can usually return to work the next day. During the first 24 to 48 hours after the procedure, you may experience some mild discomfort, including a foreign-object sensation or "scratchiness" in the eye. Vision begins improving in about a week's time.

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