EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/978371
EW MEETING REPORTER 66 Reporting from the 2018 ASCRS•ASOA Annual Meeting, April 13–17, 2018, Washington, D.C. for an elective procedure and being more accepting of spectacle wear. He also pointed to data that showed ophthalmologists have less interest in refractive surgery and noted that they are doing less to promote the procedure. Focusing on millennials as they grow older and advance in their careers, increasing interest within the specialty itself, and focusing on the advantages of LASIK over alter- natives are all things Dr. Lindstrom said could help recover the refractive surgery market. Editors' note: Dr. Lindstrom has finan- cial interests related to his presentation. Glaucoma Fighting Championship rematch: 'Is trabeculectomy dead?' Douglas Rhee, MD, Cleveland, re- mains the undefeated champ of the Glaucoma Fighting Championship (GFC) in a rematch debate against Iqbal "Ike" Ahmed, MD, Toronto, Canada, over whether trabeculecto- my is dead. The challengers of the Glauco- ma Day event, refereed by Steven Sarkisian, MD, Oklahoma City, pulled no punches, at least not lit- erally, but didn't hold back on their snarky jibes toward each other or their own pithy arguments in favor of their position. Dr. Rhee, starting off in the blue corner, argued that trabeculectomy is not dead, and Dr. Ahmed in the red corner gave his thoughts to the contrary. Dr. Ahmed, as the challenger, started off the debate. Microinvasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS), subcon- junctival microstents and better blebs, and tube shunts, he said, are squeezing out trabeculectomy proce- dures. Many surgeons have stopped doing trabeculectomy procedures, which Dr. Ahmed said is a sign, and there are trials that compare sub- conjunctival MIGS procedures with outcomes that rival trabeculectomies 9/11 and then the Great Recession there was a decline in the elective procedure from which it has not yet recovered. Is it weak economic condi- tions? Have all the candidates for laser vision correction already been treated? Is it due to poor results or complications? Or are we in a new era with a new market of consumers, the millennial population? Taking attendees through vari- ous statistics and studies, Dr. Lind- strom shared why he doesn't think corneal refractive surgery's current market status is due to economic conditions or a lack of candidates. He provided research that shows an increase in patient satisfaction with the procedure and the ability for most patients to reach 20/20 uncor- rected distance visual acuity. Dry eye symptoms that might be associated with laser vision cor- rection are counseled for and treated more often now, and modern algo- rithms have reduced the potential for night vision symptoms to 0.06% in the patient population. Factors that Dr. Lindstrom thinks impact the corneal refractive surgery market are the millennial population not having the finances Steinert Lecture a highlight of second annual ASCRS Refractive Day The second annual ASCRS Refractive Day covered corneal and lens-based refractive surgery and featured the Steinert Lecture given by Richard Lindstrom, MD, Minneapolis. Though Roger Steinert, MD, died in June 2017 after battling glio- blastoma, David Chang, MD, Los Altos, California, said his spirit lives on in the annual ASCRS Refractive Day Steinert Lecture. "So much can happen in so little time and impermanence is a circumstance we all must endure," April Steinert, Dr. Steinert's wife, said, introducing the lecture. "Today it may appear that I stand up here alone, but I assure you that is not the case. Roger is here in this room with us," she continued. Mrs. Steinert went on to intro- duce Dr. Lindstrom, listing his many accomplishments and highlighting his longtime friendship with Dr. Steinert. In the lecture, Dr. Lindstrom shared his thoughts on the current state of laser refractive surgery. Though LASIK reached its high in the late 1990s and early 2000s, after May 2018 Reporting from the 2018 ASCRS•ASOA Annual Meeting Sponsored by