November 15, 2013
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Number of monthly LASIK cases plateaus, ISRS survey shows

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NEW ORLEANS — Refractive lens exchange, limbal relaxing incisions and arcuate incisions have steadily supplanted laser correction in recent years, but laser correction has held steady for 2 years, a speaker said here.

Richard J. Duffey, MD, OSN Refractive Surgery Board Member, presented results of the U.S. Trends in Refractive Surgery: 2013 International Society of Refractive Surgery Survey during Refractive Surgery Subspecialty Day preceding the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.

“Laser vision correction volume was unchanged from the last survey … in 2012 but consistently down over the past 5 years,” he said.

The 17th survey is the fifth conducted online; 144 of 1,150 ISRS members responded, for a 13% response rate. Only U.S. members were surveyed.

Survey results showed that about 9% of respondents performed at least 75 LASIK procedures a month, the same percentage as in the 2012 survey. The percentage of respondents reporting at least 75 LASIK procedures a month peaked at 27% in 2001, Duffey said.

PRK was performed by 25% of respondents, he said.

Fourteen percent of respondents preferred multifocal IOLs and 6% preferred accommodating IOLs in refractive lens exchange for presbyopia, Duffey said.

Preferred LASIK flap thickness was 100 µm among 51% of respondents and 150 µm to 160 µm among 46% of respondents.
Seventy-three percent of respondents reported performing femtosecond laser flaps, a steady increase from recent years.

Monovision was the preferred procedure for pre-cataract presbyopia among 38% of respondents, a slight decrease from 2012, Duffey said.

Disclosure: Duffey has no relevant financial disclosures.