Like many of my fellow ophthalmologists, I have performed surgery – including LASIK and refractive lens exchange – on many high-profile figures. However, my most exciting patients are not the famous ones, but other doctors. Being able to share amazing, innovative technologies with “one of my own” is a great feeling!

 

I have worked as an ophthalmologist for over 35 years and have “become the patient” three times so far. The first was when I was 46 years old. I had LASIK to treat oblique astigmatism – an easy decision I made within minutes after seeing the new Wavelight machine operated by refractive surgeon Matthias Maus in Köln, Germany.

 

The second surgery took place around Christmas 2017. I was 56 and – because I suffer from diabetes – the vision in my right eye started to deteriorate due to an early cataract. Because my vision was so poor (about 20/100), my second decision to have surgery was as easy as the first. I considered a few different IOL platforms but, after surgical successes with TECNIS Symfony, opted for that. We did a classic post-LASIK calculation and made an adjustment for a slight myopic shift to make reading easier. I was amazed by the results and returned to work less than 24 hours later. My left eye was still fine, with an uncorrected visual acuity of 20/25.

 

When talking to my patients about surgical procedures, I’ve been able to use my own example to convey my trust in the technology. In my experience, doctors tend to talk to patients about halo and glare using a scientific, model-based approach, rather than from personal experience. I can tell you: these dysphotopsic phenomena are not nearly as bad as we tend to show them in our presentations. At traffic lights, the red light makes larger, more noticeable halos; the yellow halo is less pronounced; the green is almost nonexistent.