Why on earth this is being reported as news is beyond me. Topographers are not exactly new technology and screening out at-risk corneas is not a new idea. This stuff should have been learned in refractive kindergarten.

On the other hand, ectasia lawsuits are on the rise, and that's probably a good enough reason for more attention to prevention in the ophthalmic news mags.

PCON Supersite
TOP STORIES 5/13/2008
Knowledge of corneal topography essential for LASIK screening...

Rebecca Petris

Expressions of compassion in a public venue can come in many flavors.

Planned.
Spontaneous.
Humble.
Condescending.
Generous.
Niggardly.
Heartfelt.
Convenient.

I’m not picky. On April 25th, so far as I am concerned, any of the above would have done. It’s not as though I went to the hearing expecting an outpouring of sympathy for complications patients.

I was thinking along the lines of a thimbleful or two...

Rebecca Petris

(continued)

Problem #2: Lack of remediation for the top two adverse effects of LASIK

Considering that I have dedicated a large part of my professional life to meeting consumer demand for information about treatments for dry eye and vision quality complaints from LASIK, I am well positioned to describe the plight of a special class of LASIK patients: The unhelpables.

LASIK is creating a non-trivial number of “unhelpable” patients. They typically share...

Rebecca Petris

Some of you may recall that when the 4/25 meeting was scheduled, the FDA invited the public to submit information in writing and/or request an opportunity to speak at the hearing.

The letters submitted in writing were all made available for viewing at the meeting. I leafed through the binder - there were stacks upon stacks of emails. It was interesting reading. Many were, of course, from complications patients. There were also many testimonials from happy patients.

...

Rebecca Petris

I'm not done commenting on some of the specific things that took place at the meeting and their significance, but in the meantime I would like to give a brief sum-up of my personal opinion about what each "group" accomplished collectively at Friday's meeting.

THE CONSUMERS

1. Effectively communicated to the Ophthalmic Devices Panel that chronic dry eye and vision distortions both can occur in a degree of severity that should classify them serious complications...

Rebecca Petris