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Editor's Page No Shortage of LASIK ConfusionChris
Glenn,  This may come as no surprise to you who deal with this in your practices every day. A couple of recent studies support the notion that the hype about, and interest in, laser vision correction has surged well past a healthy state of affairs. In the first of two studies commissioned by the Vision Council of America (VCA), 9 percent of the more than 2,000 American adults polled reported that they had undergone some form of elective surgical procedure to improve their vision. Almost 80 percent of those said the procedure they had was LASIK. Presumably, they then removed the study subjects from the oxygen-deprivation tanks they’d been in and asked them again. On further questioning, only 2.7 percent of the subjects recalled having a refractive surgical procedure. Some of those were unsure what procedure they’d subjected themselves to. Another study, this one sponsored in part by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, reports that 90 percent of participants consider it “essential” for a person performing laser eye surgery to be a trained medical doctor. Citing study findings, Ken Tuck, MD, AAO president, says that 52 percent of the respondents believe that optometrists graduate from medical school, and 15 percent think optometrists are licensed to perform surgery. That this kind of misinformation is coursing through American water-cooler and cocktail-party conversation is not, in itself, reason for alarm. In a typical consumer survey, you can probably get 10 percent of the population to say they’ve been abducted by aliens. What does give pause is that the VCA survey further found that more than one-quarter of those survey participants who use corrective eyewear are considering elective laser surgery. The market, we know, is huge. The marketing, we know, has gone past the sensible promotion of an elective surgical procedure. And the price-cutters have just begun to fight. Where that leaves you is with a very, very difficult task of patient education. Like it or not, the responsibility to assure that you’ve done everything possible to cull out the confused and the ill-informed remains with you. You’re going to deal with their unmet expectations if you haven’t ferreted them out beforehand. It almost makes the surgery look like the easy part. |