6 9
January 2015 | O U T PAT I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T
E
xpense aside, some
practitioners question
whether femtosecond
surgery really improves out-
comes. The short answer is
that it makes intuitive sense,
but no one can really say for
sure.
And it's certainly true that
cataract surgery done without
lasers has come a long, long
way in the last 30 or 40 years. It's an amazing surgical procedure with an extremely
high success rate. It's almost a modern miracle.
As with any new technology, there isn't a lot of peer-reviewed clinical evidence
that quantifies improvement with femto laser. To this point, the discussion has been
mostly anecdotal. But a lot of thought leaders use the technology and are convinced
it's better, safer and more precise. Still, if you're contemplating acquiring the capa-
bility, the first question you need to ask yourself is whether you believe it's better,
and if so, whether it's enough better to justify the expense.
You can study, you can talk to peers, you can talk to patients, but the fact remains
that hard evidence is lacking. The one thing we know for certain is that properly uti-
lized, what a laser does is more precise than what even the most highly skilled sur-
geon can do manually. — Stephen C. Sheppard
TOO nEW TO KnOW?
Is Femtosecond Laser Surgery Really Better?
zBETTER OR NOT?The final jury is still out, but many
practitioners think laser surgery is safer and more precise.
lease, and you end up owning the asset. So either way you're paying a
fixed monthly rate and are going to end up owning the machine.
