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U.S. Trends in Refractive Surgery: The 2005 ISRS/AAO Survey

Richard J. Duffey, M.D., of Mobile, Ala., and David Leaming, M.D., of Palm Springs, Calif., annually survey the membership of the International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS) to collect data on such issues as LASIK, RLE, enhancement tests, ectasia and co-management. Following are results of their ninth annual survey:

►LASIK surgery dominates between -10 D and +3 D Phakic IOL is favored for higher than -10 D myopes
►Monovision is the most sought-after goal for presbyopic patients seeking refractive surgery (53%), but 17% are now implanting the newer presbyopic IOLs
►90% of respondents use wavefront analyzers
►90% perform custom ablations and at increasing frequencies (40% perform custon whenever possible)
►Fourth-generation fluoroquinolones dominate the post-refractive surgery market (96%)
►Co-management is on the rebound after several years of decline (surgeons using co-management increased from 40% to 60% from 2004 to 2005)
►Less than half of surgeons surveyed (44%) have had a documented case of post-LASIK ectasia in surgical patients over the course of their career (7% have had three or more such cases)
►66% of respondents think 250 μm is adequate for residual stromal thickness after LASIK, while 11% of respondents recommend 300 μm
►77% use mitomycin-C (MMC) for prophylaxis and/or haze (up from 64% last year)
►ASC operating rooms are the preferred location for phakic-IOL surgery (78%). OM

About this data: A mailing to 1,500 U.S. members of ISRS/AAO was sent out and 246 responses were analyzed by Oct. 1, 2005 (16.4% of the U.S. ISRS/AAO membership). This is the ninth year of refractive data collection. This data may be found in its entirety on Dr. Duffey's Web site at www.duffeylaser.com/physicians_resources.php.