-Notable LASIK Quotes-
"The producer of one national news program that did a
special on Lasik told me that he's never seen anything like the way the Lasik
industry has "circled the wagons" around incompetent docs, unethical
Lasik mills, and deceptive advertising. Since they won't do the job of policing
their own, it is left for people who have had bad experiences to do it for
them." -- Joe Tye, author, speaker and CEO.
Dr. Amanda Zeller, OD: "I am an optometrist, and I have
seen many many patients who had bad LASIK outcomes. I cannot recommend this
procedure to any patient after what I've seen in my exam chair. The rigid
contact lenses required to correct corneas butchered by LASIK are complicated
to fit, very expensive, and much less comfortable than most people's glasses or
soft contact lenses. As a glasses-wearing myope myself, I would NEVER risk
ruining my eyes with LASIK." See comments under article
Mark Packer, MD: "If a patient is willing to take a
chance, my experience has been sometimes you win and sometimes you lose."
EyeWorld, March 2011.
Dr. George Waring III: "I would not be willing to take
even a 1 in 500,000 risk on my eyes," Dr. Waring said. Source: Demand High
for RK Eye Surgery – Critics Say Glasses, Contacts Work Best, Doctors Just
Trying to Enrich Themselves by Jeffrey Weiss. Seattle Times, p.A4 7/12/93
"Ease of lifting the corneal flap 6 years after LASIK
suggests that the interface remains a potential space, providing an easy
conduit to the environment. We present the first reported case of Shewanella
putrefaciens keratitis after LASIK and emphasize that flap-related
complications can occur many years after the procedure. " (Park et al,
2007)
"Furthermore, if [LASIK] interface transparency is
indicative of absent wound healing, one might expect that the interface remains
a potential space and flap adhesion is impaired for the lifetime of the
flap." Ursea R, Feng MT. Traumatic Flap Striae 6 Years After LASIK: Case
Report and Literature Review. J Refract Surg. 2009 Dec 28:1-7. doi:
10.3928/1081597X-20091209-02.
Dr. Shaili Jain: “We seldom get to hear what patients want
or value because in the real world disappointed patients rarely tell doctors to
their face that they think of them.” Source: Docs seek to stifle patients’
rants on Web sites. By JoNel Aleccia. MSNBC.com. 1/13/2010. Accessed 1/13/2010
at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34794632
More than 90 percent of our knowledge is obtained through
our eyes, making vision the most valued of the senses. Source: Boston
Foundation for Sight website.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller on the indictment of
cataract and LASIK surgeon, Dr. Philip Gabriele, "Rarely do we encounter
such a disturbing example of a trusted medical professional allegedly putting
personal greed ahead of patients' health and safety." Source
Dr. Gary Conrad: "It was once believed that the flap
would re-adhere permanently. However, the unique connective tissue of the
cornea and a lack of blood vessels limit its ability to fully heal even years
after the procedure... A trauma to the face, such as impact from an automobile
air bag provides enough force to dislodge the flap, reopening the cornea,
infecting it with dirt and debris, and causing instant loss of visual
acuity." Source
"Would I ever get LASIK?... Being an ophthalmologist
with blurry vision would handicap me. Finally, I do have dry eyes, which could
get worse. I'll stick to my glasses and contacts for now." Rachel K.
Sobel: 3/30/2009 Source
Dr. Edward Boshnick: "From what I have seen and
witnessed in my many patients, I feel at the present time LASIK presents a
significant public health crisis." FDA hearing, April 2008.
"At 6 months postoperatively, the LASIK eyes
experienced a 48% reduction in corneal biomechanics..." Jorge Cazal, MD.
OSN SuperSite 2/19/2008
"These results show that although refractive results
after LASIK are relatively good in the short term, they tend to decline over
time". Waldir Neira Zalentein, MD; Timo M.T. Tervo, MD and Juha M.
Holopainen, MD. Seven-year Follow-up of LASIK for Myopia. J Refract Surg.
2009;25:312-318.
Dr. John Kanellopoulos: “There was evidence presented by
Emory University’s Henry Edelhauser at this year’s Refractive Surgery
Subspecialty Day at the Academy of Ophthalmology meeting that the LASIK flap
never actually heals onto the underlying stroma, especially centrally... This
was a real eye-opener for me..." Review of Ophthalmology 2/1/2009
Stephen S. Lane, MD: "Make sure the first patient you
enroll feels like you have been doing this for years..."
EyeWorld October, 2005
Marguerite B. McDonald, MD: "I'm not the only person
who thinks maybe we should hang up our microkeratomes."
OSN SuperSite Top Story 11/11/2006
Dr. Joseph Dello Russo: "Since almost 100% of LASIK
patients have some degree of decreased contrast sensitivity post-operatively
there is no reason to test for it preoperatively."
JULIE RALLS, M.D. Newport Beach, Calif.: "Treating
myopia with corneal surgery is like treating obesity with liposuction. Corneal
surgery is an elective procedure that carries the risk of serious and permanent
complications. High tech may be glamorous, but it is not always the best
medicine."
Lee T. Nordan, MD: "It has taken us more than half of
this decade to learn the risk factors associated with a LASIK flap. Now, I
believe that we should all be aware of them."
Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, May 2006
Karimian et al: "Unfortunately, because of long term
complications of LASIK, such as keratectasia, this procedure is used more
cautiously."
J Refract Surg. 2007 Mar;23(3):312-5.
Lee Nordan: "Common aims of refractive surgery include
"providing the patient with adequate distance and near functional vision
while both of his eyes are open".
Dr. Stephen Slade: "LASIK, the more LASIK you do, the
more trouble you run into."
Raymond Applegate OD, PhD: "We used to not pay much
attention to higher order aberrations because we couldn’t fix them."
Dr. I Howard Fine, Past President of the American Society of
Cataract and Refractive Surgery: "As we all know, Lasik transects the cornea nerves,
therefore inducing dry eyes in most patients."
Dr. Arthur B. Epstein: “... many of us in the contact lens
community have spent untold hours trying to help patients who have had their
lives literally destroyed by LASIK.” Source: Review of Optometry, November 2006
Dr. Jack Holladay: "By 1 year postoperative, he said,
the patient’s brain adapts to the new way visual information is being delivered
to it, and patients who were at first unhappy become more contented." It
is vital to perform bilateral implantation of multifocal lenses in order to
allow the neural adaptation to take place, Dr. Holladay said. Always implant
multifocals in both eyes,” he said. “By 6 to 9 months, the neural adaptation
will kick in, and the amount of unhappy patients will dwindle down to less than
1% or 2%.”
OCULAR SURGERY NEWS 9/15/2005
Lee T. Nordan, MD: "Happy usually means that the
patient’s visual function is poorer than desired, but he isn’t complaining …
today."
Schallhorn et al: "At the very least, adequate
counseling for quality-of-vision risks should be provided to patients with
large pupils that will be treated with a 6.0 mm optical zone."
Ophthalmology, Vol 110, Number 8, August 2003
Lee T. Nordan, MD: "Refractive surgery routinely
requires multiple procedures through the years if a patient desires excellent
distance vision."
Marguerite McDonald, MD: "With LASIK, roughly half of
my patients had dry eye complaints after surgery-and in about half of these,
the symptoms were severe."
Mantry S, Shah S.: "Indeed, the long-term problems
created by laser refractive surgery are not yet a major issue, but soon will
be."
Clin Experiment Ophthalmol. 2005 Apr;33(2):115-6.
Paul Koch, MD: " 'We have lens implants that can do
that,' I continue. 'Oh, I know,' the patient interrupts.' I smile, as I picture
a credit card passing my way."
Ophthalmology Management January, 2006
Michael W. Malley: "From the perspective of sheer
market size and potential penetration, however, it’s hard for a refractive
surgeon not to lick his chops when comparing the LASIK market to that of
refractive lens exchange."
Marguerite McDonald: “I think surface ablation is appealing
because your heart rate doesn’t go up when you do it, and you don’t have to
deal with a [LASIK] flap.”
Review of Ophthalmology Vol. No: 10:02Issue: 2/15/03
Ron Krueger: "Further evidence demonstrates that the
brain does seem to adjust over time, even if it does take a year or two."
Richard F. Callaway, MD: “Don’t create a higher standard for
yourself than you need to."
OCULAR SURGERY NEWS 4/15/2006
George O. Waring, MD: "Refractive surgery is surgery
done by a physician, a surgeon, on a fellow human, operating on the organ
through which we get 80% of our information."
EyeWorld, July 2001
"Since a large part of this rigid anterior part of the
stroma is either removed (PRK) or intersected (LASIK), it is possible that in
the long run patients who underwent refractive surgery may be confronted with
optical problems."
Eric D. Donnenfeld, MD: "When there are large gray
areas or your views are discrepant with the norm, please keep your opinion to
yourself and outside of a court of law. We should not be held to today’s
standards in a malpractice event that took place several years ago."
CLAYTON Y. GUSHIKEN, O.D. Honolulu: "As an optometrist,
I am not recommending this procedure. History will teach us that the cornea is
not a structure we can mess around with. The risks (e.g., current surgical
mishaps and potentially devastating long-term complications) are simply not
worth it."http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992418,00.html
James J. Salz, MD: "..I have heard bilateral LASIK
advocates seriously state that this is one reason to do the two eyes together,
so that the patient can’t compare the LASIK eye with the contact lens
eye!"
Robert K. Maloney, MD: "One of the things that has been
very striking to me is how my most angry patients often have pretty good
results and often my patients with the worst results are relatively benign and
trusting."
Shareef Mahdavi, LASIK Marketing Consultant: "What is interesting about the Baby Boomers is that they are now between the ages of 42 and 60. They are going to develop presbyopia and they are going to develop cataracts for the most part, and that is good news. The even better news is when you look at their financial situation. They are generally past their peak debt and are moving into their peak net worth in spending and investments. Thus, these are good tail-wind dynamics for you as surgeons."
Mark G. Speaker, MD: "Criticism of care from another
doctor is often a trigger for a lawsuit."
OSN SuperSite Top Story 10/20/2006
Lee T. Nordan, MD: "In my experience, the odds that an
eye with a corneal thickness of 500μm will develop ectasia postoperatively are
a lot higher than 5%. I would estimate a risk of between 50% and 75%."
Steven E. Wilson, MD: "You can’t have 20/15 vision with
a 20/40 brain." http://www.escrs.org/Publications/Eurotimes/04april/pdf/Wavefront%20custom.pdf
Thomas R. Quackenbush, Vision Educator: "A primary
tenet of orthodox medicine has been never to perform surgery on healthy tissue.
It appears this tenet has now changed. Obviously, many people have better
acuity soon after these surgeries--but what about the long-term consequences?"
Source: Relearning to See.
Emanuel Rosen MD FRCS: “When we alter the quality of
people's vision we alter the quality of people's lives, it's a life-changing
experience.” Source
No comments:
Post a Comment