Interview transcription:
In an interview, Alex Shortt discusses which patients are more suitable for an implantable contact lens instead of laser eye surgery
Interviewer: Let’s understand which part of the population is suitable for implantable contact lenses versus which ones can typically go for conventional laser eye surgery.
Alex Shortt: In theory, everyone’s suitable for implantable contact lenses, but the thing is that laser eye surgery is such a safe and effective and cost-effective way of correcting vision that we tend to choose this first.
Primarily because of safety.
That’s why laser eye surgery leads the way in correcting people’s vision. But very often we have patients whose corneas are too thin for us to laser them safely. And in patients with these thin corneas, laser eye surgery is not safe. The other patient group are patients who have extremes of prescription. We’re talking minus 20, plus 8, plus 10. Or astigmatism that’s above plus 5, plus 6 units. So those patient groups, very thin corneas or very extreme prescriptions.
What happens in those patient groups is they’re turned away from laser eye surgery and very often they’re turned away at the stage when they put their numbers into the website, or they pick up the phone and say, “This is my prescription on my suitable?” And they leave it at that.
It’s a bit of a shame because we do have a treatment for these patients with the most extreme prescriptions, and very often they don’t hear about it. And they’re not aware of it right now. What that treatment is is these ICL lens implants.
Interviewer: And why are they not made aware of it?
Alex Shortt: Not all clinics provide all solutions. That’s something we see quite commonly. We see laser eye clinics or vision correction clinics, and they have specific treatments, but they don’t have the whole range of vision correction options. And ICLs require specific training. They require certification, and not all surgeons and clinics are capable of providing that care.
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About the author
Mr Alex J. Shortt | Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon
MB BCh MSc PhD FRCOphth PGDipCatRef
I’m Alex Shortt, a highly trained academic researcher and Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon based in London’s famous Harley Street medical district. I trained and worked as a consultant for 14 years at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital. I specialise in advanced technologies for correcting vision, including cataract surgery, implantable contact lenses and laser vision correction.