LASIK will continue its popularity

PHILADELPHIA – LASIK will most likely continue its dominance among refractive surgery procedures, Jimmy Jackson, MS, OD, FAAO, and Thomas W. Samuelson, MD, said here at the PRIMARY CARE OPTOMETRY NEWS Symposium. “LASIK has the instant ‘wow’ factor that makes it more likely for patients to immediately communicate their positive experience with the surgery to family and friends,” Dr. Jackson said.

Surface ablation is challenging LASIK’s stronghold by making a comeback as a viable surgical choice. “Some people believe surface ablation is better because of the quality of optics,” Dr. Samuelson said. “Epithelial cells are never the same after LASIK.”

The drawbacks, increased healing time and pain, keep photorefractive keratectomy at less than 5% of U.S. laser vision correction procedures annually.

Multifocals and IOLs are now being viewed as an excellent alternative for the increasing numbers of presbyopes, Dr. Samuelson said. “For presbyopes who can tolerate monovision, these options can be used as a niche product, not a primary procedure,” he said. “You can tell the patient to reasonably expect improvement of two vision zones, with improvement of all three being considered gravy.”

Incorporating the newest in wavefront platforms improves patient outcomes, increases profitability and maintains the practice’s leading edge status, according to Dr. Jackson.

“We took the decision about whether or not to use custom procedures out of the hands of the patients,” Dr. Samuelson added. “We decide what is best for them by using custom only.”