SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – A quick, easy procedure to restore clear vision, Lasik surgery, is now being questioned as some patients can’t see very well anymore.
Millions rushed to have Lasik surgery 10 to 15 years ago but today many of those patients are wondering what to do now since they can not see as well as they used to.
ABC4 took a closer look to find answers from the people living “life after Lasik”.
As the Lasik surgery phenomenon gained exposure, dozens of laser eye surgery clinics appeared across the Wasatch Front. Today, Utah’s busiest Lasik eye surgery center, Hoopes Vision, has a couple dozen patients go under the light and walk away with clear vision.
“We operate on roughly, I would say 3,000 people a year” says Dr. Phillip C. Hoopes Jr.
Lasik surgery became popular because it allowed people to get out of their current vision without dealing with the hassle of glasses or contacts.
However, many patients that received the surgery are now questioning getting the procedure because their vision is fading.
“Down the road they may have other problems. As the eye ages it can’t focus, it can’t read. They may develop other eye conditions” says Hoopes.
Dr. Hoopes blames the Lasik industry for convincing costumers that it is the only solution to bad vision.
“I think we market Lasik to make it sound like it's the ultimate solution for vision and so we may be misleading the patients but in reality the eye is going to continue to change” said Hoopes. “We feel it's really important, even if you've had successful Lasik in the past that you maintain a current relationship with your surgeon so that if things do change, you have an avenue to turn to.”
Julie Mehman and her 4th grade students at St. Francis School depend on her eyes.
Julie wore glasses since the fifth grade and was thrilled when she heard about Lasik surgery. However, 7 years after the surgery, Julie is losing her vision again.
“A little in the distance, maybe driving at night, I needed just a little tweaking so I had to get some glasses."
The natural aging process was changing the shape of her eyes and she was losing her long-range vision. In the meantime, advances in eye surgery created a new option for Julie and people like her.
"They told me about this new lens that I can get” says Mehman.
The "new lens" Julie was talking about is a tiny piece of acrylic, a new replacement for the defective human lens.
"We remove the lens of the eye and we replace it with implants."
The surgeon enters the eye and inserts a tiny pulverizer that turns the lens into soft particles. Then a tiny vacuum that removes the particles and a new manufactured lens is born.
Dr. Bob Cionni of the Eye Institute of Utah is part of a nationwide clinical study of the new lens. It is hailed a permanent vision fix.
"Without a doubt. Once you take the lens out of the eye and replace it with an implant, there's no further changes in the lens” says Cionni.
However, not everyone qualifies for the new lens implants. Dr. Cionni has done about one-thousand here at the institute.
Julie says she's looking forward to being one of his next transplant recipients.
"With this lens, it just sounds perfect. I'm excited about it."
Both these eye surgery centers are treating patients who have had Lasik and lost their vision again.
If interested in the procedure or want more information on the surgery centers, click on the links below:
http://www.theeyeinstitute.comhttp://www.hoopesvision.com
