Consumer Beware: All Laser Eye Surgeons are Not Created Equal; Laser Eye Consultants Gives You Ten Questions That Will Help You Find The Quality Laser Vision Surgery You're Looking For.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

WASHINGTON--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 4, 2001

In response to recent media accounts about questionable and unethical practices among certain laser eye surgery centers, Laser Eye Consultants, a private refractive eye surgery practice in Washington, DC, issued a checklist of important questions that every prospective laser eye surgery patient should ask before deciding on a doctor.

"The marketplace for laser vision correction is crowded with many choices among quality, technology, price, post-operative care and marketing gimmicks," said Jonathan D. Carr, MD, one of Laser Eye Consultants' surgeons and an internationally renowned refractive surgeon.

"After reading about the unethical and disturbing practices being employed by some in the industry, I encourage prospective laser eye surgery patients to minimize their risk of complications by educating themselves thoroughly to find the right match of surgeon experience and surgery fees."

Ten Questions To Ask Before Going Under the Laser

What is the actual price of the procedure?

Beware of the asterisks in advertisements! Common "bait and switch" marketing practices involve advertising a low price to recruit prospective patients. The initial consultation is then used to "up sell" patients to a more expensive option because of higher levels of nearsightedness or astigmatism. Expect to pay at least $2,000 per individual (both eyes).

Is the surgeon a board certified ophthalmologist? Has the doctor received sub-specialty training in refractive surgery?

Doctors should be licensed, board certified ophthalmologists experienced in corneal surgery. Even better, look for doctors who have completed a cornea fellowship, have formal experience teaching LASIK and/or specialize in treating LASIK complications. Make sure the doctor a center brags about is the actual one who will be performing your surgery.

What is the surgeon's complication rate for the LASIK procedure?

It is commonplace to see a surgeon report the total number of surgeries performed. This is only part of the information patients need. It's important to ask the surgeon how many problems creating the LASIK flap have occurred in relation to the total number of procedures performed. In other words, what is the surgeon's batting average rather than the number of "at bats." As a minimum, the surgeon should have a flap complication rate of less than ONE IN 200 procedures. It's important to ask the surgeon exactly what happened to those patients having such complications: i.e. did the surgeon fix the problem?

How many procedures does the doctor perform per hour?

Two to three patients per hour is reasonable and allows for safe surgery - doctors performing more than this can run the risk of an increased number of adverse or complicated results.

What kind of technology will be used?

The laser that your surgeon plans to use should be an FDA approved laser (the FDA's website lists such lasers). It is important to realize that in 2001, there are few, if any, significant differences among the lasers available in the United States. This myth has unfortunately been used by some centers to suggest to patients that they pay a premium to have the surgeon use one laser over another. The most common flap-making devices are Bausch and Lomb's Hansatome and Moria's microkeratome - both are excellent instruments. Ask your surgeon how many procedures he/she has performed with the flap-making device they plan to use.

What is the doctor's success rate?

Press the doctor for what he/she considers a realistic success rate with the specific equipment being used. It's important that the doctor monitors his/her own results rather than telling you the current published results that other centers are achieving.

During the initial consultation phase, what percent of potential patients does the doctor refuse?

A higher rejection rate (greater than 10%) is a good indication that the doctor values patient safety over profit since not all people are qualified candidates for laser eye surgery for many different reasons. If they say "no one is refused," say "thank you for your time, but I'm going elsewhere."

What kind of post-operative care do they provide?

All offices should provide "in-house" postoperative follow up visits. Expect to have four to five follow-up visits in the year following your procedure. If you decide to follow up elsewhere (e.g. your own eye doctor) make sure that your own eye doctor is experienced in the management of laser surgery patients.

What if you need to have a follow-up laser enhancement procedure to improve the result?

Overall, enhancement procedures are necessary about 10-15 percent of the time. They are safe and effective. Patients should be wary of being asked to pay a large fee up front for lifetime enhancements to be covered given the low chance of needing an enhancement and the fact that the cost to provide the enhancement is substantially lower than for the initial surgery. It is, however, reasonable to pay a small fee for enhancement procedures.

Is the doctor willing to spend the time to answer all of these and other questions?

Both before and after your procedure, you should have easy access to the doctor - not just a nurse or office support staff - to answer all your questions and make you feel at ease.

"Unfortunately the success of laser eye procedures such as LASIK has created a public perception that the result is guaranteed to be great," said Ketan H. Patel, MD, a Laser Eye Consultants surgeon. "Consumers need to be aware that the experience of the surgeon is related to the quality of the result of surgery, and that this is not necessarily correlated with the price of the procedure."

Other Valuable Resources for More Information

US Food & Drug Administration: www.fda.gov/cdrh/lasik/default.htm

American Academy of Ophthalmology: www.eyenet.org

International Society of Refractive Surgery: www.isrs.org

American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery: www.ascrs.org

About Laser Eye Consultants, PLLC 

Laser Eye Consultants (LEC) is a Washington, DC-based private practice dedicated to high-quality laser eye surgery using the most advanced technology available today.

LEC's surgeons were trained at Emory University's world famous Vision Correction Center and have extensive experience with corneal surgery and laser vision procedures. For more information, visit www.lasereyeconsultants.com or call 202-776-0575.