Implantable lenses could be a safer alternative to laser surgery for moderately nearsighted people, a British review of earlier research suggests.

Laser surgery — for example, LASIK – is the standard procedure for nearsighted people who don’t want to depend on glasses or contact lenses. It strips off cells from the cornea, the clear tissue covering the eye, thereby flattening it and allowing visual input to come into focus on the retina.

For extremely nearsighted people eye doctor may choose to use implantable lenses instead of eye surgery. Such lenses, known as phakic intraocular lenses, were only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004, and until now no one had systematically reviewed the studies testing them against laser surgery.

The new report, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, shows that implantable lenses - which, at $3,000-$5,000 per eye, cost about double what laser surgery does — may have advantages over laser surgery.

“Laser surgery becomes less predictable and less safe for very shortsighted people,”

said Dr. Allon Barsam of the Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, who led the research.

One year after the surgery, the number of patients who had 20/20 visual acuity without glasses was similar for the two kinds of surgery.

But patients with lens implants had better contrast sensitivity and clearer spectacle-corrected vision. They also reported better quality of vision and were more satisfied with the surgery than those who had undergone a laser procedure.