A.J. Martinez turned to the procedure to restore his vision.
A California fire department captain was so sick of wearing glasses that he turned to a newly FDA-approved surgery that he hopes will correct his vision and have him dumping the specs for good.
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A.J. Martinez has a series of glasses for various activities like looking at a computer screen and reading documents. He also has a wide variety of spares that he takes wherever he goes.
He says he has to see clearly at all times and "people's lives depend on it."
“I need to be able to read medication patient information [and] all of the critical information on my computer when I am on the engine,” he told Inside Edition.
The San Diego firefighter says he was blindsided when he turned 50 and suddenly "woke up in the morning and had blurry vision."
"I couldn’t figure it out,” he said.
He added: “I had never worn glasses [or] had any protective procedure ever. I just woke up one day and had fuzzy vision. I did a little investigation and found i had presbyopia.”
Presbyopia is the loss of near vision that most people notice in their 40's, otherwise known as "after 40 vision.”
Martinez turned to Dr. Robert Lin for the newly approved KAMRA eye surgery that the doctor says will enable him to read without glasses.
“The way the KAMRA works is it lets only focused light into the eye so you can see far and near,” Dr. Lin told Inside Edition. “Most people will immediately see improvement in their near vision but of course the result will get better over time.”
By narrowing the opening that permits light rays to enter the eye, Dr. Lin says the KAMRA inlay repositions the focal point back on the surface of the retina to achieve crisp, sharp vision.
A tiny ring weighing less than a grain of salt is inserted into the cornea. The ring can then focus light into the eye.
The procedure is done just on one eye — the non-dominant eye.
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A laser creates a pocket where the ring, about a quarter-of-the-size of a contact lens is implanted. The whole procedure takes about 15 minutes to perform.
Martinez says he felt great after the procedure and had no pain. He was also able to see immediate improvement in his vision.
A month after the procedure, he tossed all of his glasses, and is able to read very fine print.
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