EyeWorld Asia-Pacific June 2014 Issue

June 2014 22 EWAP FEAturE Marketing femtosecond for cataract technology by Michelle Dalton EyeWorld Contributing Writer AT A GLANCE • Integrate the femto laser as part of an overall strategy to manage patients’ vision needs. • Educate the eyecare community through seminars—especially your referring physicians. • Internally market the technology to previous refractive patients who are already comfortable with laser surgery. • Be careful not to undermine the premium IOL business in favor of the laser. Most surgeons take a conservative approach to advertising the laser T oday’s tech-savvy patients may not be swayed by the mere notion of a practice’s latest device—even when that device is beginning to show better patient outcomes. “Technology just doesn’t sell anymore,” said Michael Gordon, MD , in private practice, Gordon Weiss Schanzlin Vision Institute, San Diego, Calif., U.S. When his practice integrated the femtosecond laser for refractive cataract surgery, Dr. Gordon opted out of traditional advertising, concentrating instead on educating referring ODs. “We emphasize to our patients that we offer a laser-assisted cataract surgery, and they immediately grasp the concept,” he said. In South Dakota, Vance Thompson, MD , director of refractive surgery, Vance Thompson Vision, Sioux Falls, SD, U.S., developed the moniker Refractive Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery (ReLACS) to describe the process because “laser resonates with patients anyway. But clinicians need to be careful with that—patients believe the laser is so much better that you can almost irresponsibly market the technology.” Dr. Thompson’s group developed press releases and underwent internal training to be ready to answer both patients’ and the media’s questions about the femto laser. Dr. Kontos adjusting treatment parameters for a femto cataract patient. Source: Mark Kontos, MD Views from Asia-Pacific Laurence SULLIVAN, MBBS, FRANZCO LaserSight and Bayside Eye Specialists 2/100 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne, Victoria 3002, Australia Tel. no. +613-95967440 Fax no. +613-95967449 Laurence.sullivan@gmail.com I think the differing opinions as expressed adequately sum up the variety of attitudes to femtosecond laser in the current ophthalmic climate. There are some early adopters who are very keen to use the femto in every cataract surgery that they do and to utilize it extensively as a marketing tool as well. I myself am a part owner of a femtosecond laser (second generation), but find that I am yet to be caught up in the fervor for using it. From my point of view, I cannot see that there is any evidence that it improves the outcomes of even premium IOL surgery. I haven’t done an LRI for many years since toric IOLs became widely available in Australia and believe that toric IOLs are a much more accurate way to correct astigmatism in cataract patients. To date over the last 12 months I have only used the femto for cataract surgery about 10 times and that was in specific cases where I felt there was some advantage. These cases included Fuchs’ dystrophy with a dense cataract and pseudoexfoliation with some zonular weakness. The other situation where the capsulorhexis performed by the laser might be of some benefit would be in the case of an intumescent white cataract where an Argentinian flag syndrome might be a risk. Interestingly, in the graphics from the readers’ poll [conducted among ASCRS members and published in the March 2014 issue of the U.S.-based EyeWorld Magazine to accompany the article – Ed.], none of these answers that I have mentioned came up as significant. The other cautionary note I would add is that in the recent paper from Dr. Brendan Vote et al. published in Ophthalmology, there were some safety issues raised.1 At this stage I’m waiting for further information to come into the peer reviewed literature before re-engaging with this technology. I do expect that there will be some advances in the technology and its clinical use in the next few years. I continue to use a femtosecond laser almost exclusively for my LASIK refractive surgery practice. Reference 1. Abell RG, Davies PE, Phelan D, Goemann K, McPherson ZE, Vote BJ. Anterior capsulotomy integrity after femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery. Ophthalmology. 2014 Jan;121(1):17-24. Editors’ note: Dr. Sullivan is part owner of a femtosecond laser for cataract surgery, a consultant for Zeiss, and inventor and owner of precisioniolguide.com . continued on page 24