EyeWorld
March 2001
http://www.eyeworld.org/article.php?sid=713
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Advertisements that credit a laser in-situ keratomileusis surgeon with a certain number of cases or promise a rate of visual acuity are ruining the industry, refractive pioneers say. And for the hapless patient, some ads are so misleading that they can cause the selection of the wrong doctor or procedure.
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He wondered why ads for medicines must have "a whole page of disclaimers," but LASIK surgeons and centers are not required to. Patients are often not warned of possible results, such as halos at night, said Durrie, associate clinical professor, University of Kansas, Kansas City, who is in private practice at Hunkeler Eye Centers, Overland Park.
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"Anyone can claim they're an expert," said I. Howard Fine, MD, clinical associate professor, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, in private practice at Oregon Eye Associates, Eugene. "They can take a course, then claim they're a LASIK expert."
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"Everyone claims he or she has done 10,000 cases, everyone has done it first, and everyone is the best," said Frederic B. Kremer, MD, director of the Kremer Laser Eye Center, King of Prussia, Pa. "By ophthalmologists letting this get out of hand, it undermines the whole profession."
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Steve A. Arshinoff, MD, lecturer, University of Toronto, has had similar experiences. "I'm often arguing with the manager of my center," he said. "The companies don't like to deal with ethics, just cash flow."
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Arshinoff, who often sees post-LASIK problems, said most LASIK ads are "intentionally deceiving. The more the centers are run by management companies, the more deceptive the ads," he said. "They sold hamburgers last week."
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"It's a shame. I'll lay it all on the government and the lawyers. They gave doctors the right to advertise," Price said.
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Richard Abbott, senior ophthalmic practice secretary at the AAO, said ads that list a surgeon's number of cases or a percentage of visual acuity achieved are "misleading and deceptive." There is no "magic number" of cases, and percentages without the patients' pretreatment acuities are worthless, he said.