EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/78716
118 EWInternational March 2012 International outlook South Korea goes full speed ahead in refractive surgery by Matt Young EyeWorld Contributing Editor S outh Korea plays a pivotal role in Asia. It is a country of early adopters who embrace technology and whose doctors offer the most advanced options in eyecare. Refractive surgery including LASIK, phakic IOLs, and refractive lens exchange remains a strong and growing market in South Korea. It is with great in- terest that we discuss the latest trends in ophthalmology with two prominent Korean eye surgeons. Their insights are a valuable window into how eyecare is delivered in a young, high tech society. John Vukich, M.D., international editor Meanwhile, technology, price, and competition are important factors in the South Korean refractive marketplace I gan. South Korea is beaming with pride today as one of Asia's devel- oped countries on the move. The nation's ophthalmology in- dustry is on the move, too, but un- derstanding its uniqueness yields some important lessons for eyecare experts and observers worldwide. "Our population is about 55 million people, and we have about 300 active working ex- cimer laser platforms [nation- wide]," said The Eye Foundation, Coimbatore- Hungwon Tchah, M.D., pro- fessor, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, Seoul, South Korea, and president, Korean Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. "This is a very high number of laser platforms. It's one of the high- est proportions in the world." Per year, for example, there Hungwon Tchah, M.D. are about 150,000 refractive surgery patients, which is about 0.3% of the population, he said. By comparison, about 1.4 million refractive surgeries were performed in the U.S. in 2007, or about 0.5% of the U.S. population then. South Korea is, if not at the same refractive surgery level yet, closing in fast on the U.S. in terms of this percentage. Most treatment in South Korea is for myopia, Dr. Tchah said. LASIK for hyperopia and hyperopic astig- matism is rare, he said. It might make up less than 10% of total LASIK procedures performed in the nation, he said. One big distinction from the U.S. refractive market is that "every- thing is available," Dr. Tchah said. While that's not literally true, his feeling is that South Korea is very Chul Young Choi, M.D. open to new technology. "I don't know why but the Korean people love to try new things," Dr. Tchah said. "Every new machine is available in my country. The Allegretto Wave [Alcon, Fort Worth, Texas], the Schwind [Amaris, Schwind Eye-Tech-Solutions, Kleinostheim, German], SMILE [small incision lamellar extraction, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Jena, Germany]. Everything is available." One problem Dr. Tchah sees with the refractive market is that it's very competitive. "The procedure fee is going down day by day, year by year," Dr. Tchah said. "I saw a private doctor a few days ago. He has to work until 7 p.m. to attend to his last refractive surgery patient. And his reward is only two-thirds of last year's prices." t is home to the world's first commercial dog clone, it intro- duced mobile payments earlier than Japan, and "Soul of Asia" is part of its capital city's slo- Source: Makoto Watanabe/Getty Images