Improvements Within LASIK Surgery At Park Avenue Laser
To the Editor:
RE: “Lasik Surgery: When the Fine Print Applies to You” by Abby Ellen, NYT Mar. 13, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/fashion/13SKIN.html
Ms. Ellin’s persistent halos and dry eyes after LASIK are why I stopped performing LASIK years ago. Although LASIK provides high patient satisfaction (95.4% worldwide, according the American Academy of Cataract & Refractive Surgery) and excellent outcomes (98% of nearsighted patients achieved 20/20 or better in FDA trials), the procedure involves cutting a flap in your cornea. This transects your corneal nerves, which can cause dry eyes, and leaves your cornea in a sandwich configuration, which backscatters light, contributing to halos.
The newer LASEK and epi-LASEK procedures do not involve cutting the cornea, so decrease your risk of halos and dry eyes. Indeed, your chance of a flap-related complication–the most frequent and severe one–is reduced to zero. Using WaveFront algorithms developed for the Hubble telescope, we can now correct minute imperfections in your visual pathway, to make you see sharper than with contacts or glasses. However, cutting a LASIK flap changes your corneal anatomy, so the WaveFront treatment is no longer perfectly accurate–in contrast to LASEK or epi-LASEK.
The only reason more patients (and surgeons) have not switched is because recovery takes a weekend, instead of overnight–a clear indication of American society’s preference for quick results over safety. As the first refractive surgeon in New York City to have LASIK myself (in 1999), I have some night glare and halos. But when I see how I would after a WaveFront LASEK enhancement (using a PreVue lens), all my symptoms disappear. This is what I would recommend for Ms. Ellin, and for prospective patients who want to avoid such problems in the first place.
Sincerely,
Emil Chynn, MD, MBA
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Emil William Chynn, MD MBA
Dartmouth/Columbia/Harvard/Emory/NYU-trained
1st surgeon in NYC to have LASIK!
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