Surgeon: LASIK not a commodity

ANAHEIM, Calif. — LASIK should not be considered a commodity in a free market economy such as the United States, according to a surgeon speaking here. Changes should be made to advertising practices for the procedure to reflect this classification, he stressed.

“You may be perceived by the Federal Trade Commission and the consumer as an ‘advertiser’ of these services,” said James Salz, MD, at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.

“LASIK is not a commodity. You can’t test drive it or return it for a refund. It’s difficult for consumers to compare data; there’s no such thing as Consumer Reports for LASIK,” he said.

Because of this, how a consumer interprets a LASIK advertisement may be considered more important by that patient than what the ad actually says, he noted.

Dr. Salz recommended avoiding terms that the FTC has declared inappropriate, such as permanent, stable, perfect, normal and painless. Surgeons should also be careful to avoid advertising techniques that might appear deceptive, such as use of a different laser for surgery than the one advertised or the offer of significant discounts only for a highly limited range of refractive errors.

Also, if a surgeon mentions a percentage of success in an advertisement, “you must be able to discuss it and discuss the remaining percentage of complications,” Dr. Salz said.