Quality data important to attract younger patients to LASIK | Ophthalmology

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I have been involved with corneal refractive surgery since 1981, when as a young assistant professor and director of the Cornea Service at the University of Minnesota Department of Ophthalmology, I was invited by my friend

 

In 1988, I acquired one of the first 10 excimer lasers in the U.S. and participated in multiple clinical trials that continue to date as laser corneal refractive surgery technology evolves and improves. I continued with radial and

 

, pioneering and teaching mini-RK and the ARC-T system of corneal relaxing incisions for astigmatism until 1995-1996, when the first two excimer lasers, Summit and Visx, were approved by the

 

I then abandoned the mini-RK procedure for myopia in favor of laser corneal refractive surgery and limited my use of ARC-T incisions to my refractive cataract surgery practice.

 

early and with my associates, particularly David Hardten, MD, helped train many of America’s current corneal refractive surgeons. Minneapolis/St. Paul and the 50-mile surround are a good barometer of the LASIK market in the U.S.

 

We launched LASIK/PRK in our practice in 1996, and our volume of cases doubled every year, reaching a peak of just more than 7,000 eyes in 2000 with four refractive surgeons. The same occurred in the U.S. as a whole, with a peak just more than 1.4 million eyes per year in 2000/2001. In 2014, with six refractive surgeons in our group, we performed just more than 3,000 LASIK/PRK procedures, about 40% of the volume we generated more than 10 years ago.

 

Home for surgical videos and meeting presentations, along with “Video Perspectives” from key opinion leaders who provide insight on current news and information relevant to your practice.

 

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