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BLOG: The noble pursuit of premium lens surgery
A relative of mine recently had to have a tooth extracted. Discussing the restoration of her bite after the removal, the dentist explained that the traditional approach was to grind down the two surrounding teeth and build a bridge that would span the gap where the tooth was removed. It would last a few years, but it was not nearly as natural as a dental implant that would cost more but would be bound directly to the bone to replace the missing tooth in a more natural, functional way.
Given such a choice, how many of us would choose the bridge instead of the more advanced but more expensive dental implant? Not many. Statistics from the American Dental Association show that the number of patients receiving implants is increasing.
Refractive lens implants (toric and presbyopia-correcting) are fairly analogous to dental implants. Their benefits are clear, and patients are ready to accept their added cost. In fact, a number of market research studies of U.S. cataract patients show that 80% are willing to pay extra for the benefits these lenses deliver.
Why then do only 11% of U.S. cataract patients receive such a lens? Maybe it’s because the earlier-generation multifocals did not achieve such high levels of patient satisfaction as current ones. Maybe it’s because these implants were collectively described as “premium” — a term that is often used to describe added cost without much added value (think premium gasoline). Maybe we use fewer refractive implants than we should because doctors and their staff simply do not want to spend the extra time and effort delivering the better result expected by the patient.
Indeed, it’s easier for surgeons to use traditional implants and set expectations low, but don’t our patients at least deserve a choice? How would we feel if our dentist extracting a tooth performed a bridge restoration, never letting us know about the possibility of an implant?
Learning the skills, adopting the technology, and offering our patients advanced toric and presbyopia-correcting implants is indeed the noblest way to practice cataract surgery. The conversation about options is not a sales pitch. It’s simply investing the time in doing complete patient education. Isn’t that what each of us would want from our own surgeon?
Disclosure: Hovanesian reports he is an investor or consultant to a number of companies that manufacture or sell refractive lens implants.