Societies warn Pa. consumers about mobile laser eye surgery units

Two medical societies in Pennsylvania are warning consumers about mobile laser eye surgery units and their potential risks to patients.

“In recent months, mobile truck units have traveled across Pennsylvania to perform laser eye surgery,” said Michael J. Azar, MD, president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology in a press release from the Pennsylvania Medical Society. The concern of the two medical groups is that these units roam freely throughout the state without oversight by the state’s department of health.

“These units are beginning to travel throughout Pennsylvania, setting up shop in parking lots and other off-street locations to perform surgery out of the back of a truck,” Dr. Azar said in the press release.

Unlike ambulatory surgery centers, which are regulated by the state’s board of health, these mobile units are usually staffed by physicians without established practices, who may not be available for follow-up care or to treat post-surgical complications, according to a spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.