EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/357599
47 EW FEATURE you're not aware of, you're not tracking, and you're not correct- ing—100% patient satisfaction in all aspects of their experience is my goal, from wait times to refractive outcomes," Dr. Starr said. LASIK and dry eye Patients who suffer from dry eye or in whom LVC exacerbates the dis- order are not likely to be satisfied— and are not likely to refer friends and family either. In response to the question "In what percentage of your patients do you believe that LASIK has significantly increased the level of postoperative dry eye?" more than two-thirds of surgeons responded that they believe LASIK increases dry eye in more than 10% of their patients (61% of U.S. surgeons and 74% of non-U.S. surgeons believe that). "The data just don't support those numbers, particularly more recent data on SBK, or thin-flap fem- tosecond laser LASIK," Dr. Brinton said. "Most LASIK and PRK patients will be relatively drier postoperative- ly than preoperatively for at least the first 6 months. Laser refractive surgery has a neurotrophic effect on the cornea, but when anticipated and aggressively treated, it is often a non-issue for the patient," Dr. Starr said. Dr. Brinton said improving the screening process will likely result in more readily identifying those with preop dry eye. "Better diagnostic tools can help screen those who are not excellent candidates for LVC due to tear film dysfunction. Patients with manifest or subclinical preoperative dry eye can be better candidates for other refractive procedures, such as phakic IOL implantation or refractive lens exchange," he said. "The ASCRS survey results show that many are still in the skepti- cal phase with some of the newer diagnostic tools," Dr. Brinton said. "As more surgeons start adopting the newer diagnostics, dry eye will no longer be viewed as a nuisance, but as something that can be more easily identified and treated before and after surgery. With these tools we can better assess and track the ef- ficacy of our treatments and further improve surgical outcomes." EW Editors' note: Dr. Brinton has financial interests with Abbott Medical Optics (Santa Ana, Calif.), Alcon (Fort Worth, Texas), Nidek (Fremont, Calif.), and STAAR Surgical (Monrovia, Calif.). Dr. Starr has financial interests with Alcon, Allergan (Irvine, Calif.), Bausch + Lomb (Bridgewater, N.J.), Nicox (Fort Worth, Texas), Rapid Pathogen Screening (Sarasota, Fla.), and Tearlab (San Diego). Contact information Brinton: jpbrinton@gmail.com Starr: cestarr@med.cornell.edu WELCOME TO THE ERA OF CENTURION ® Active Fluidics ™ Automatically optimizes chamber stability by allowing surgeons to customize and control IOP throughout the procedure. Balanced Energy ™ Enhances cataract emulsification efficiency using OZil ® Intelligent Phaco and the INTREPID ® Balanced Tip design. Applied Integration ™ Designed to work seamlessly with other Alcon technologies for an integrated cataract procedure experience. Optimize every moment of your cataract removal procedure with the CENTURION ® Vision System. © 2014 Novartis 4/14 CNT13017JAD-A Learn more about the era of cataract procedures. Visit MyAlcon.com. For important safety information, please see adjacent page. THE C ATARAC T REFRAC TIVE SUITE BY ALCON August 2014 LASIK/keratorefractive surgery