EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/82503
September 2012 Refractive cataract surgery February 2011 greatness? His first impression of the technol- ogy "was that it was more of a strug- gle than regular cataract surgery," and hydrodissection caused some issues. He's since developed a new hydrodissection technique that's "completely unique for femto- phaco." He also advised those new to the technology to schedule fewer cases and take the time to learn the laser's nuances. Since April, not one of his femto-phaco patients has developed cystoid macular edema, Dr. Daya said. "It may be the laser itself, it may be because we're not in the eye as long," he added. Internal audits Dr. Foster recommended surgeons evaluate all the lasers and choose the one they believe has the best technology and the deepest ongoing commitment to research, service, and improving outcomes. After a year of commercial use, "the num- ber of patients we're treating with the LenSx is double what we antici- pated. In retrospect, we worried too much about capitalizing the laser when we should have spent more time considering how to educate patients about the opportunity." Dr. Talamo's group has been actively evaluating the lasers for the past year and will likely proceed with an acquisition "soon," and advises other centers to evaluate whether they believe in the technol- ogy, determine affordability and workflow processes, and determine a marketing strategy. "If you don't think you can do more than a cou- ple hundred cases a year, paying for the technology is going to be diffi- cult," he said. The next stage of development may involve using different im- plants that may fill the bag with a particular type of polymer—"the options are unlimited because of what this technology can bring. We've got more options available be- cause we have this reproducible way of doing a capsulotomy and taking the cataract out. It's the potential for further innovation that excites me more than anything else," Dr. Daya said. EW Editors' note: Dr. Daya has financial interests with Bausch + Lomb. Dr. Foster has financial interests with AcuFocus (Irvine, Calif.) and Alcon. Dr. Packer has financial interests with LensAR and Bausch + Lomb. Dr. Talamo has financial interests with OptiMedica. Contact information Daya: +44 0800 011 2882, sdaya@centreforsight.com Foster: 970-221-2222, gjlfos@aol.com Packer: 541 687 2110, mpacker@finemd.com Talamo: 781-890-4979, jtalamo@lasikofboston.com EW FEATURE 59