No single refractive procedure ‘will win out’

SAN FRANCISCO — A new trend, dubbed “comprehensive refractive surgery” is here to stay, according to the chief medical editor of Ocular Surgery News.

“It will be rare to have one refractive surgeon perform only one procedure,” said Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, during a debate on the subject. “There will be a trend to comprehensive refractive surgery, where surgeons perform lamellar, surface and lens procedures.”

Dr. Lindstrom was a panelist here during Cornea Day, jointly sponsored by the Cornea Society and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

“I don’t believe any one procedure will win out,” he said.

George O. Waring III, MD, believes lamellar surgery “will continue to lead” as the procedure of choice, he said.

“LASIK is almost like a household word now, patients know it and like it,” he told attendees.

Richard Yee, MD, however, believes surface ablation will become the procedure of choice. It will catch on, “because we can re-treat haze. We can modulate haze and minimize pain.”

José L. Guell, MD, PhD, said he advocated phakic IOLs in patients with thinner corneas.

In an informal poll, program moderator Michael W. Belin, MD, asked the several hundred attendees to raise their hands if they have had a refractive procedure. About 100 attendees raised their hands. Dr. Belin asked those people to raise their hands if they had a lamellar procedure. The overwhelming majority underwent lamellar procedures, followed by a few who had undergone a surface procedure, and very few who had a phakic lens implantation.