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Surgeons must look beyond the numbers to functional vision
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NEW ORLEANS — Refractive surgeons are “not asking the right questions” to determine if their patients have good functional vision, a speaker said during the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting here.
Kerry Solomon, MD, said surgeons need to look beyond the Snellen chart, J score and diopters of accommodation when dealing with patients who are looking for real world vision improvement.
“Truth is not always in the numbers. We need to be looking at functional things that allow us to have a better understanding … of criteria that are important to our patients,” he said.
Dr. Solomon said that patients who have been implanted with Alcon’s AcrySof ReStor lens have experienced vision improvement that meets this challenge. Eighty percent of ReStor patients in Food and Drug Administration clinical trials are not using glasses for near, intermediate or distance vision, he said at an Alcon-sponsored symposia. There was also high patient satisfaction with tasks such as working at a computer and reading fine newspaper print.
“This information is far more useful than 20/20 or J1 or diopters of accommodation,” Dr. Solomon said.
“As new technologies come along, this issue will affect all our practices. Patients want to know what the side effects are, how well will they be reading and what can they really expect,” he added.