Turn on a radio, open a newspaper or read a magazine, and seems like everyone is promoting LASIK laser surgery. With all the hype, how do you know what’s accurate?
As one of the surgeons selected by the Food & Drug Administration to participate in the LASIK trials in Houston before the procedure’s approval in 1996, I have since performed more than 8,000 surgeries.
Based on my practical experience and that as a board-certified ophthalmologist, the following article will continue to attempt to clear up some of the misconceptions about LASIK - while providing "straight talk" on this important subject.
STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT CONDUCTIVE KERATOPLASTY (CK):
It is not the magic cure for reading glasses (presbyopia).
Conductive Keratoplasty - or CK - is being heavily promoted by some doctors, but consumers should be aware of several important facts. First, this technology involves heat (or cauterizing), and when heat is used to shrink tissue, over time that tissue will expand back. Second, CK is for mildly farsighted patients, a small subset compared to nearsighted patients. Third, the post-operative results of patients treated in other countries the past few years is inconclusive. Lastly, it requires correcting one eye for distance and one for near, the equivalent of monovision with present-day LASIK. Monovision requires the brain to make a switch between eyes, and is not tolerated well by all patients.
The more promising alternative may be multifocal lens implants.
STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT WAVEFRONT:
It won’t replace LASIK surgery.
About 15 percent of patients who wish to have refractive surgery are not good candidates with today’s technology because their corneas are shaped irregularly. VISX is currently conducting trials and awaiting FDA approval to help treat these patients.
In the next few years, LASIK surgeons will be able to perform custom ablations for these individuals. In the meantime, VISX has manufactured the first commercialized wavefront system in the world called WaveScan. Wavefront technology involves measuring light waves that pass through the pupil to the retina and then return. The WaveScan is diagnostic equipment which measures the distortion in those light rays and helps surgeons analyze more elements of the optical system than how light passes through the cornea. The results, called a WavePrint Map, measure in microns (1/1000 of a millimeter) while the typical cornea measurement standard is 530 microns.
The Eye Laser Center of Houston where I perform my surgeries has this system, and it has already benefited our patients. However, because the results of the WaveScan cannot be connected to the laser at this time, this diagnostic test is currently being used in selected cases. Ultimately, this advancement will help determine patient treatments to the one one-hundredths of a diopter instead of to the tenth.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED PERSONALLY
If you would like to learn more about the aforementioned or email questions, visit our website at www.doctorwhitsett.com. Or better yet, call Michelle, our laser vision coordinator, at 713-365-9799 to set a time for your free consultation. During that consultation, I will meet personally with you and answer your concerns one-to-one.
Dr. Jeffrey C. Whitsett 
Jeffrey C. Whitsett, M.D., has twice been named a VISX Star surgeon, an honor bestowed on the top 100 providers of Laser Vision Correction in the United States. Presently, he serves as president of the Eye Laser Center of Houston. A 1986 graduate of the University of Oklahoma Medical School, he has been in private practice for more than a decade specializing in refractive and cataract surgery.
Dr. Whitsett is Board Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. He is involved in several major national and international ophthalmology organizations, and lectures nationally for Alcon Surgical about the most current concepts in cataract and refractive surgery.
| 
