EMR isn’t only for slowing down patient care

American Chemical Society. “Forget LASIK: Safer, cheaper vision correction without lasers or incisions.” ScienceDaily, 29 September 2026. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927034004.htm This Science Daily article caught my eye. There have been all kinds of technologies that have tried to replace PRK and LASIK over the years. INTACS, SMILE, and CK come to mind. I used to work for TLC in the early 2010s. Refractive surgery was much more popular than it is now, but it wasn’t as much as in its heyday when anyone who took a weekend course was doing it. The new tech is called electromechanical reshaping (EMR). It doesn’t remove any tissue like standard refractive surgery. It uses a small electrcial potential to change the chemical environment and alter the tissue’s pH. Lowering the pH temporarily weakens the bonds that keep the collagen in the cornea rigid. At this point, a special platinum contact lens is applied to reshape the cornea. It has only been tested in rabbit…