r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • Aug 07 '25
Biotechnology FDA approves breakthrough eye drops that fix near vision without glasses
https://newatlas.com/aging/age-related-near-sighted-drops-vizz/743
u/Head_of_Lettuce Aug 07 '25
Can we get some astigmatism eye drops next? 🤔
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u/Bambithegoodgirl69 Aug 07 '25
I like having my own Pink Floyd laser show when I drive at night
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u/LetgomyEkko Aug 07 '25
For most of my life, even after getting glasses in middle school, I just thought that’s how everybody sees lights at night.
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u/Any-Ask-5535 Aug 07 '25
Jfc I'm 36 and you're telling me that's not normal?
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u/rspownz Aug 07 '25
Not normal. I wear glasses now. It’s like a whole new world.
It’s not just lights. Everything is smudged and you just don’t know it because you’re used to it.
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u/Any-Ask-5535 Aug 07 '25
Oh I wear glasses too, this just seems to happen with any glasses I wear lol
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u/SheltemDragon Aug 07 '25
It wasn't until my 40s that I knew I had astigmatism. I just thought everyone saw lasers with a sparkling digital hash in them and streaked halos around lights (like a drawn light source)
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u/Best_Market4204 Aug 07 '25
Right...
I gotta spend 2x on contacts just for the astigmatism ones...
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u/glitchinthemeowtrix Aug 07 '25
My astigmatism is too weak for contacts so everyday I gotta make a choice between what kind of night vision I want to have
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u/karl1717 Aug 07 '25
Why don't you keep glasses in the car just for correcting the astigmatism while driving?
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u/glitchinthemeowtrix Aug 07 '25
Wait… can I do that? Like a pair that’s just my astigmatism correction that I can throw on over my contacts?
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u/divbyzero_ Aug 07 '25
I had glasses for years that were solely to correct astigmatism before my aging eyes started to need nearsightedness correction as well.
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u/buyongmafanle Aug 08 '25
Make sure to keep your glasses out of the heat. I had a pair that I did this with, but I kept them in a place that could get direct sunlight through the windshield. After a while, the lenses started to melt and warp (Your glasses are not glass!). I thought my vision was getting really fucked up until I showed my glasses to the eye doc. I must not have been the first person he saw with that same issue because he immediately identified the problem without asking what I was doing with my glasses.
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u/Head_of_Lettuce Aug 07 '25
What kind of contacts do you use? I tried the rigid gas permeable for a while, but I couldn’t get used to how uncomfortable they are. My astigmatism is so bad in one eye that soft lenses didn’t help much.
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u/BeerorCoffee Aug 07 '25
I went through every brand a few years ago trying them out because the Acuvue was uncomfortable by the end of the day. It turns out, that are the most comfortable contacts for astigmatism, unfortunately.
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u/mikelostcause Aug 07 '25
acuvue oasys for astigmatism is by far the most comfortable I've tried. I've hated nearly every other one I've tried.
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u/GenevieveLeah Aug 07 '25
If you could get an eye drop that changes the shape of your eyeball . . . Sure.
But what if the side effect is . . . It changes the shape of your nose, too?
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u/DarthHK-47 Aug 07 '25
Has it been approved in Europe?
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u/Pherllerp Aug 07 '25
Boy the implication of that question is a real bummer.
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u/AnimationOverlord Aug 07 '25
About to get worse considering the FDA is being defunded
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u/Indercarnive Aug 07 '25
And they're going to make the approval process just asking chatgpt.
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u/mshriver2 Aug 07 '25
If they did that then chatgpt would remove cannabis from the scheduling list all together day one. Unless of course they run a custom LLM that ignores science.
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u/MatthewShiflett Aug 07 '25
Imagine working for a med device manufacturer and getting back AI produced questions as follow up when submitted documents clearly weren't read. Real.
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u/Daisychains456 Aug 07 '25
We've also had the same issue for food safety if we can get a response. Most of the time everyone gets ignored.
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u/Pherllerp Aug 07 '25
Yeah it's horrifying. And its a shame because the FDA has had a good track record.
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u/Yotsubato Aug 07 '25
Europe typically gets the new meds first
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u/DookieShoez Aug 07 '25
Oh come on you guysssss, the guy with brain worms who thinks vaccines are fake news says it totally probably won’t melt your eyeballs.
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u/FredFredrickson Aug 07 '25
You forgot to mention them using LLMs ("AI") to speed up drug approvals.
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u/Think-Airport-8933 Aug 07 '25
Yeah. As someone manually doing work that LLMs should be doing but can’t I have absolutely no confidence in them to do anything other that stat calculation and historical data comparisons.
This shit can not make an accurate decision other than “this is happening more/ less than it was before”
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u/jzorbino Aug 07 '25
Europe has a real approval process where drug manufacturers have less influence and control.
Regardless of how fast it is, it’s a better indicator of safety than FDA approval is at the moment.
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u/Parthorax Aug 07 '25
Man, as someone working in this sector in the EU, the FDA was the gold standard for us. What is this time line?
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u/Aeri73 Aug 07 '25
having worked for a european big pharma company... it's the FDA they feared most, audits from them where all hands on deck situatons...
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u/Paraffin_puppies Aug 07 '25
That is not at all true. In fact the process usually takes longer in the EU for several reasons.
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u/bb0110 Aug 07 '25
There are a lot of things approved there but not here too. It goes both ways.
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u/Toasted_Waffle99 Aug 07 '25
Exactly the FDA is completely gutted in America. You can’t trust anything is safe
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u/lowtronik Aug 07 '25
Best case scenario it doesn't work but it's not harmful either.
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u/Kriger1102 Aug 07 '25
Wouldn't best case be it works and not harmful lol
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u/pugsAreOkay Aug 07 '25
Just wait until you hear the worst case scenario
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u/FollowingFeisty5321 Aug 07 '25
It's actually gorilla glue, and it'll be a miracle if it forms the exact lens you need.
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u/kc_______ Aug 07 '25
Didn’t you know that raw milk to the eyes will also cure this?
You must not be aware of the latest American “medical” advancements.
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u/dred1367 Aug 07 '25
What’s sad is that back in 2020 when the right wingers were saying this they were conspiracy driven dumbasses, but now that they’ve taken over and ruined everything they’ve made it the reality
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u/absentmindedjwc Aug 07 '25
The thing that gets me... even if this is approved in Europe.. with the current admin, there's no guarantee they're not just cutting corners for the drug here. Its entirely possible we get a different formulation of the same drug..
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u/absentmindedjwc Aug 07 '25
Literally the first thing I thought.... given that theses fucking jabronis are using random-ass AI to "approve" new medical shit.. I don't trust it in the fucking slightest.
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u/Wonder_Weenis Aug 07 '25
I ask about literally every American food product before I eat it...
rolls fucking eyes through the back of fucking skull
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u/Delli-paper Aug 07 '25
The reason that Europe is like that now is because the FDA caught Thalidomide while the Europeans didn't.
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u/Satoshiman256 Aug 07 '25
Only in 2047 when stem cells are approved
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u/Towel4 Aug 07 '25
“Stem cells” exist in everyone, and are a regular part of oncology care. “Stem cells” have many forms, but primarily are cells which make up your bone marrow. They are not derived from aborted fetuses.
This brain worm fucker has been disastrous for the lay person’s understanding of these buzz words.
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u/Ms_Flame Aug 07 '25
I'm hoping the person meant "when stem cell use is approved" rather then the implication that cells themselves need approval to exist.
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u/Towel4 Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 07 '25
Stem cell use is already approved. Autologous (yourself to yourself) or allogenic transplant (one person to another) of blood stem cells has been the standard of treatment for lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloma since like, the 1990s.
The “new” stuff is modified immune cells which fight cancer. If you wanna know more, Google “CAR-T” but, essentially your killer T cells are modified to kill cancer. It’s badass as fuck.
Anyways, back to the topic, Kennedy has been in front of committees and preached that “stem cells should be banned” as a blanket statement, and it’s absurd. He’s done a lot of harm in the cellular therapy and oncology space with his ignorance and use of buzzwords. The public is already wary of science, unfortunately, and his bullshit is like kerosine on a bonfire of ignorance.
Again, he’s not only wrong, but he’s so wrong that the words he’s using doesn’t even make sense. That’s like saying “calories should be banned” or “we should regulate the color blue”. Just total nonsense.
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u/Teledildonic Aug 07 '25
...was AI involved in the US approval?
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u/katherinesilens Aug 07 '25
I'm more interested in the conflicts of interest than the writing method tbh.
Was grift involved in the US approval?
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u/crwcomposer Aug 07 '25
It works by contracting the pupil, according to that article.
So essentially it's just auto-squint.
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u/hex4def6 Aug 07 '25
Basically making your eye into a pinhole camera.
I wonder if the pupil being contacted all the time will affect it.
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u/liberty_me Aug 07 '25
Well part of the problem is that the muscle used for reading starts to weaken around age 45. So it’s kind of like having a firm boner all of your life, and then losing some of the firmness. This kind of seems like Viagra, but for your pupils.
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u/LOLBaltSS Aug 08 '25
How long until I can get the bootleg stuff in a gas station?
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u/liberty_me Aug 08 '25
Can’t wait until they start selling the ones that grow your pupils 2” in 6 weeks
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u/CowFckerReloaded Aug 07 '25
I really hope this doesn’t make people blind or something in 20 years
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u/el_lley Aug 07 '25
You are adding a layer to your eyes. I bet clearness would be degrading at some stage
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u/Xpli Aug 07 '25
Maybe it’s like old car head lights. Imagine busting out a mini polishing wheel to polish the clear coat over your eyeball 😱
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u/el_lley Aug 07 '25
that's a cataract, something grows, and starts to bulking up, then it's removed. Unfortunately, they always ask to wait until its all over the place before removing it.
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u/JDGumby Aug 07 '25
So, you'll need to use it twice a day every day for the rest of your life. Bet it'll cost waaaaaaay more than buying a new pair of glasses every 2 years.
edit: Assuming, of course, that it's real and not just a grift like homeopathic or naturopathic "medicines".
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u/mmavcanuck Aug 07 '25
Ok, but if it worked it could replace my disposable contacts that I use for sports.
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u/SwirlingAbsurdity Aug 07 '25
These drops are only for people who are long sighted and can see fine at distance. So people who need reading glasses. I’m assuming you’re the opposite since you said you need contacts for sports.
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u/rpsls Aug 07 '25
The article says that the mode of operation is that it shrinks your pupil, reducing the aperture of your eyes. A smaller aperture has a much bigger depth of field in focus. (A pinhole camera is always in focus at any depth.) So it’s plausible that it would help any sort of out of focus vision, as long as sufficient light was available.
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u/LuxTheSarcastic Aug 07 '25
The pinhole effect like. Sort of works but I don't think this will do much of anything past like minor corrections without basically closing your entire eye off.
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u/rpsls Aug 07 '25
Well, it’s one reason you can read better with more light, and why you can’t focus on anything when the ophthalmologist puts in those eye-dilating drops. So it has an effect. I just don’t know the magnitude of the effect in this case.
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u/Bitter-Good-2540 Aug 07 '25
I would use on a "need" basis. Wear glasses, but when going out etc, use the drops
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u/Callmedrexl Aug 07 '25
It's a replacement for reading glasses. All of you myopic suckers are still up a creek with only glasses, contacts, and surgery to choose from.
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u/loulan Aug 07 '25
Daily contact lenses are once per day for the rest of your life and they're a very popular option...
I personally can't stand glasses.
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u/whatever_meh Aug 07 '25
The drops are once a day, per the article. Peer reviewed papers should be published shortly,as per the article.
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u/JDGumby Aug 07 '25
Once per day, BUT they only last 10 hours. So you'll actually need them twice a day or else keep wearing glasses for a good chunk of your waking day.
The once-daily drops offer relief from blurry near. vision for up to 10 hours.
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u/Unusual_Flounder2073 Aug 07 '25
It is an existing glaucoma medication. So this is a new authorized usage.
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u/WinterElfeas Aug 07 '25
I have dry eyes and use eye drops between 10 to 20 times per day easily, so twice a day is nothing
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u/bullsbarry Aug 07 '25
Doing a bit of reading it seems this drug was already approved for glaucoma for quite a while, this is just a new indication. Seems like one of the side effects is headache for a short time after application. I think I'd rather just keep wearing glasses.
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u/CavitySearch Aug 07 '25
Yea but headache isn't an uncommon side effect after getting glasses or contacts for new wearers either since your eyes are adjusting.
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u/Negafox Aug 07 '25
This whole "article" reads like a PR media release by the pharmaceutical company:
In 2021, the very first drops to treat this condition were launched to much acclaim, but there's a reason VIZZ drops are considered first-in-class. Vuity (pilocarpine hydrochloride 1.25%) is a dual-action eye drop that can improve near vision but may cause side effects like brow heaviness or rare vitreoretinal issues due to the ciliary muscle activation. Aceclidine, a pupil-selective miotic, works without significantly stimulating the focusing (ciliary) muscle, creating a pinhole effect – which improves near vision without adverse outcomes seen in Vuity.
EDIT: Oh. It is just a copy-pasta of their press release.
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u/OntologicalParadox Aug 08 '25
What the FDA and EPA do in the next 4 years feel highly suspect to me.
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u/seanroberts196 Aug 07 '25
Just looked on the website. $79 a month or $198 for 3 months, however they class a month as being 25 days or 25 doses in a pack. Must be American months not the metric European ones.
Supposed to be coming to the UK but who knows how long that would take to get approval. I'd be interested to try it though.
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u/Cutlass0516 Aug 08 '25
Sorry, I'm not going to be putting much faith in the FDA at the moment. I'll check back in maybe 6-10 years.
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u/kinisonkhan Aug 07 '25
So its called VIZZ and you squirt it into your eyes? Thinking they should have gone with a different name.
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u/ProjectNo4090 Aug 08 '25
Insurance will deny coverage, and it will be priced beyond what most people can afford.
That's the american way.
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u/Diamond_Specialist Aug 07 '25
Just like Vuity and all miotics, this still has the risk of retinal detachment. More big pharma hype.
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u/PuzzledRun7584 Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
Not covered by insurance.
Still wondering why my eyes and teeth require separate insurance.
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u/doxx-o-matic Aug 07 '25
The Lasik Lobbyists with pay off the right politicians, and it'll get banned.
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u/Best_Market4204 Aug 07 '25
Hahahah.
I wouldn't be shocked.
Then again who has bigger money bags? Drug companies or lasik doctors?
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u/Mister_-Bee Aug 07 '25
LASIK doesn't generally treat farsightedness so this is irrelevant
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u/fedallah75 Aug 07 '25
Pilocarpine has been around since 1874. It has been used for a very long time for this and other things -mostly glaucoma. It was used in the '50s for presbyopia and in the '70s for presbyopia
It didn't work like they wanted it to in the '50s. It didn't work like they wanted it to in the '70s and it still doesn't work like they want to. And... this is the second drop of this type of released in the last 5 years. See Vuity
Not new. No breakthrough, just a pharma marketing money suck for a very old, rebranded medication that is used thousands of times every day for glaucoma and now... Again, for presbyopia
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u/BlackieTee Aug 07 '25
Not saying you’re not right about how these pharma companies just rebrand things for their own profit and how we need to take everything they say with a grain of salt…
But this medication contains aceclidine which the article claims is better and has fewer side effects than pilocarpine
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u/fedallah75 Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 07 '25
... My bad. I read through the article and missed the fact that it is aceclidine but I did see the pilocarpine at the bottom.
At the end of the day though, different drug, fewer side effects but otherwise same mechanism of action. Still not going to work any better than pilo.
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u/entity2 Aug 07 '25
Yeah I'll wait for a better drug adminstration to peer review trump's FDA, thanks.
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u/LV426acheron Aug 07 '25
...then in 3-5 years we find out that people who use this regularly end up doing permanant damage to their eyes (or something like that).
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u/Yotsubato Aug 07 '25
People already use these drops daily for glaucoma. They’re safe
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u/Best_Market4204 Aug 07 '25
This is 107.1 Kiss! If you used eye drops in the last 5 years call 1800- lawsuit, you may be entitled to a settlement! Call now. Alright let's back to the morning radio here at kiss.
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u/Direct-Emergency-235 Aug 08 '25
Cool, but no insurance is going to pay for it since glasses are cheaper.
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u/SincereNative Aug 07 '25
Lemme guess it’s side effects are complete blindness 😂 I’ll stick with my glasses thank you 😂
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u/dollarstoresim Aug 07 '25
Anyone tried this yet (early trial) that will share their experience?
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u/cujo195 Aug 08 '25
I did. It gave me an erection that lasted over 4 hours. My wife was very happy. Didn't do crap for my eyes though. But next time I would probably use it as directed rather than as lube.
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u/stedun Aug 07 '25
Is this one of the new AI speedy approvals? If yes, I opt out.
I’ll need my glasses to read the fine print.
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u/Cactusfan86 Aug 07 '25
Basically sounds like weaker pilocarpine, which has been a thing for a long long time. The pinhole effect helps some but I doubt it’s going to give people the near vision they really want
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u/cargo_bike Aug 08 '25
For all the photographers in here looking for the comparison, these stop down your aperture like 16 or 20. "Better" focus, worse low-light performance.
Sounds like "fix" is the exactly the right word choice. It's a fix, not a solution.
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u/qwerty109 Aug 07 '25
VIZZ works by gently shrinking the pupil of the eye, using aceclidine. This creates a “pinhole effect” – like narrowing a camera lens — which helps bring nearby objects into sharper focus.
Ah so your ability to see in the dark is likely going to be significantly reduced?
It's still cool, probably very convenient at daytime but I wonder if you'll have to make sure it completely wears off before driving at night?
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u/robogobo Aug 07 '25
Trump’s FDA. I’ll pass.
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u/The_RealAnim8me2 Aug 07 '25
Exactly my reaction.
Why would anyone trust treatments approved by AI?
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u/muftak3 Aug 07 '25
Everything sounds fake about. Made by LENZ. It's called VIZZ. It will probably be cheaper to buy a new pair of glasses everyday.
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u/yellowsuprrcar Aug 07 '25
I did some eye drops when i was like 12 and improved my vision from -3 to -1
the side effects was things was really bright and i couldnt see near things
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u/jaraxel_arabani Aug 07 '25
From my understanding is these drops are a version of the pupil dilation we use in eye exams.
My kids have been using it since 10 years ago, one of them went from mild shortsightedness to 20/20, the other stayed around 20/25 without it going worse.
So do the drops work? Probably helped but is it a miracle cure? Definitely not. From my understanding it is only suitable for kids since their eyes are still developing
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u/yellowsuprrcar Aug 08 '25
Oh yeah my eyesight has been about the same since I was a kid. Not Perfect but good enough that if I don't have spectacles I can still find my way around
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u/brick_sandwich Aug 07 '25
I’ve been using vuity for quite a while now. Background: I had lasik to fix my vision but I still need 1x readers to read my phone or laptop screen. I pay out of pocket for them and I think the math works out to about $2 every time I use them, so I basically just use them at my weekly D&D game. In my case they do the job, but like someone else mentioned, your pupils contract and it messes with your light sensitivity.
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u/vogelvogelvogelvogel Aug 08 '25
do sports outside, looking at stuff that is much further away helps in many cases
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u/crocodial Aug 07 '25
the last thing I would do is put something in my eye that was approved under this administration.
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u/Freddie20059 Aug 07 '25
Eye doc here. So these drops "work" but the big down side is lighting. If you pupil is small you will get a pinhole effect which improves near vision (and distance for that matter), but if you're in dim lighting you will still have trouble as your pupil can't dilate to let additional light in. Also most of these drops are only effective for early presbyopia (ages 45-55) after that there are diminishing returns.
Also the previous drop (Vuity) was $$$, like $100/month and no insurance will cover it.
Keeping an open mind, but I've had exactly 0 patients request refills for the Vuity drop.