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Speaker: Consider lessons learned from refractive surgery despite decline in procedures
PHOENIX – The body of knowledge gleaned from decades of laser vision correction outweighs the apparent decrease in the number of cases being performed, according to a presenter here at the Optometric Council on Refractive Technology symposium, held prior to Academy 2012.
Duffey and Leaming have reported that “laser vision correction as a whole is on the decline, Michael Twa, OD, PhD, FAAO, told attendees. “They suggest growth in surface laser vision correction.”
However, “our profession being involved is one of the most positive things that’s happened,” said Twa, an associate professor at the University of Houston College of Optometry.
“The approval of LASIK brought about a change in the profession,” he said, “and a lot of collateral benefits.”
Optometrists became involved in comanagement from the very beginning.
“LASIK has taught us about dry eye,” Twa said. “It’s helped us understand the tear film and the corneal layer.
“We learned things about physiological optics we never sought to learn,” he continued. “We know better about our patients’ desire to be free of contacts and glasses and how meaningful that is, and how they will accept unconventional things to achieve that goal. We now better understand the structure of the cornea, how it heals, how to apply wavefront optics, the interplay between shape and visual performance. We know better how to measure vision than ever before. We have an exciting future ahead of us.
“I don’t see a negative future even though there may be a decline in the procedures,” he concluded.