Choose a surgeon with corneal expertise: The cornea is the part that is treated during laser eye surgery. You should look for a corneal surgeon who has been fellowship trained rather than just someone who just does laser correction. A corneal surgeon does the really hard-core, tough work like corneal transplants and so laser surgery is technically easier for him/her. A good analogy would be the difference between cosmetic surgeons who are GPs versus cosmetic surgeons who are plastic surgeons. It is impossible to substitute the depth of training a corneal surgeon gets compared to someone who just does laser eye surgery.

Choose laser not blade: Ideally any LASIK procedure should be performed with a femtosecond laser e.g. Intralase and not a mechanical blade. That is the way my wife and I had our procedure and evidence points towards laser flaps as the better way to go.

Choose a practice with more than one laser surgeon: Having worked in both a group practice and solo surgeon practice, I honestly think that a group practice is much better. Having a group of surgeons keeps us constantly up to date and on our toes. We also each have “niche interests” which allow us to refer to each other for second opinions on more difficult cases. And then, because no one works 365 days a year, if you ever need something and your own surgeon isn’t here, then one of the others can see you.

I hope that helps. Take care and be well.

Dr Colin Chan

Who is a candidate for LTP, and what is its success rate?

Laser eye treatment is suitable with most patients who have typical open-angle glaucoma. In a few cases it may be possible to no longer need eye drops, however, most will have to continue with drops. In these cases the laser is used to reduce the eye pressure when drops alone are insufficient.

The laser utilises a precise emission of light energy to the channels that drain inside the eye. Each burst of laser energy unblocks the tiny holes in the mesh-work. Later contraction near the burns stretches the microscopic channels, allowing increased drainage, decreasing the pressure.

What is the LTP Process?

The Glaucoma laser therapy is carried out in consulting rooms at Vision Eye Institute. You do not need to be admitted with the Day Unit for LTP. When you arrive, you will put special drops in your eye to constrict the pupil and reduce the pressure. The take 15 minutes to take effect, and may produce a small ache around the eye but normally settles within 30 minutes. The actual laser eye procedure only takes five minutes. Your eye pressure will be taken after 2 hours to ensure there is no elevation which may require more drops or tablets.

The laser treatment is done on a special laser microscope just like the slit lamp used in general examination. Local anaesthetic drops are also utilised, and a laser lens is put on your eye as to focus the laser beam. Around 30-50 bursts of the laser are necessary. Each burst is painless or may feel like a small prick of a pin. After the treatment, you may feel as if your eyes are blurred for a short time.

After treatment, you will want to use anti- inflammatory drops 4 times a day for a week in the treated eye.Each eye will require between two to three sessions of treatment to complete the procedure as only one third to one half of the drainage angle is lasered in each session to prevent a spike in pressure. During this time and until your doctor directs you otherwise, you should continue to use your regular glaucoma drops as usual.

Implantable lenses are used to correct very high amounts of short-sightedness and long-sightedness, which are generally not suitable for treatment using laser eye surgery.

What are they made from?

The implanted lenses are made from a flexible plastic material, they are very small , and are placed permanently within the eye to correct the blurred vision caused by these very high prescriptions.

The implanted lens is used in addition to the natural lens inside the eye, rather than replacing it.

What will I experience?

The implanted lens cannot be felt inside the eye. Visual recovery, in most cases, is rapid. The day after surgery, you will usually be able to see well enough to resume most normal activities, with dramatically increased visual freedom. Full visual recovery usually takes a few weeks.

The cost of your surgery will vary depending on the procedure you have. During your initial consultation we will discuss the options and costs with you.
As a guide our laser eye surgery fees range from $3,000 per eye to $3,400 per eye. Please consult your Vision Laser clinic for full details.

The laser eye surgery fee includes:

• Surgeon’s fees
• Optometrist’s fees
• Post operative medications
• 4 post-operative visits at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months
• Enhancements (if required) for at least the first 24 months (see clinic for details)

The cost of laser eye surgery cannot be claimed from Medicare or from most Private Health Funds. However, you may be eligible for a Medical Expenses rebate on your tax return. Please check with your tax accountant.

Please note: The initial assessment is not part of the surgery fee, please contact your clinic for details.

Payment Plans

At Vision Laser, we understand that the decision to have laser eye surgery is a big one. The financial cost of the procedure needs careful consideration and needs to be balanced with the real benefits that can be obtained with laser eye surgery. Many Australians who believe that laser eye surgery is outside of their budget are missing out on the wonderful benefits that freedom from glasses or contact lenses provides.

We offer a range of realistic and affordable financing options to help you experience the freedom of clear vision:

• Interest-free payment plans
• Extended payment plans

Both of these plans are provided by GE CareCredit, which is a credit facility offered by GE Finance Australasia Pty Ltd, trading as GE Money.

12 month interest-free payment plan available*

Click the calculator below to estimate your monthly payments
CareCredit Repayment Estimate Calculator

Call 1800 601 747 or email your clinic for further details about this offer or the extended payment plan.

*Available to approved applicants only. Fees and charges apply. Minimum amount financed $500.

Net medical expenses tax offset

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) allows Australian taxpayers to claim a tax offset on the out-of-pocket expenses they incur on certain medical expenses.

On the ATO website, Net medical expenses are defined as the medical expenses you have paid less any refunds you received, or could get, from Medicare or a private health insurer.

You can claim a tax offset of 20% – 20 cents in the dollar – of your net medical expenses over $1,500. There is no upper limit on the amount you can claim.

Most procedures performed at Southline fall under the definition of Claimable Medical Expenses. According to the ATO, “You can claim expenses relating to an illness or operation paid to legally qualified doctors, nurses or chemists and public or private hospitals”.

Laser eye surgery is specifically listed as a procedure that qualifies for the tax offset.

You can read more about the Net Medical Expenses Tax Offset on the ATO website.

The 2010 Commonwealth Budget provided for an increase in the threshold from $1,500 to $2,000, effective from July 1, 2010.

This information is provided as general assistance only and does not take into account your personal financial or medical circumstances, nor does it guarantee that surgical procedures performed at Vision Laser with qualify for the tax offset. Before making a decision about your eligibility to claim the tax offset, please consult your accountant or other tax professional.

It’s not often you can announce a development that is truly game changing. But that’s what has happened with LaserLensSMA. The same technology that ophthalmologists have used to perform over 3 million LASIK  correction procedures worldwide can now be used during cataract and lens replacement surgery.

Laser eye treatment, is a surgical procedure for people who want to reduce their dependence on glasses or contact lenses. If you are dissatisfied wearing glasses or contact lenses, then laser  correction could be for you.
The revolutionary procedure known as LASIK has become one of the most popular and successful in the world today.

If you have been diagnosed as having a cataract, there is no need to worry. Cataracts are not unusual. They frequently occur as part of the eye’s ageing process. However, with cataracts it is possible to turn back the clock. The latest advances in micro-surgery have proven to be remarkably successful, giving improved visual results and dramatically shortened recovery times. When deteriorating vision from a cataract begins to interfere with your work or lifestyle it is time to give the situation serious consideration.

What are Cataracts?

The lens of the human eye works rather like the lens of a camera. Toward the front of the eye, the lens focuses light onto the retina at the back of the eye. Light passes through it to produce a sharp image on the retina. When the lens of the eye becomes cloudy or opaque, light is unable to pass through and your vision is blurred. This condition is known as a cataract. There are many misconceptions about cataracts. For instance, a cataract is not a film or growth visible on the outside of the eye. It is not caused from the over-use of the eyes, and using the eye does not make it worse.

Cataracts usually develop over a period of a few months. They are caused by the deterioration of the normal protein structure within the lens of the eye as a person ages. This makes the lens cloudy. Most people with cataracts are healthy and have no other eye disease. However, cataract formation can also follow eye injuries, glaucoma, general medical conditions such as diabetes, the taking of certain drugs, or radiation damage. Cataracts can occur as early as age 40 but occur mainly in people over the age of 60 years. They are the leading cause of vision loss among older adults, and they may affect up to 60% of adults over the age of 65 years. Occasionally they may occur as a congenital defect in infants or children.

Symptoms

Depending on the size and location of the cloudy areas in a lens, you may not even be aware a cataract is developing. As the cataract progresses, you may be aware of one or all of the following symptoms:

• Decreased vision at night and in other situations with poor lighting
• Increased sensitivity to glare or bright sunlight
• Difficulty with night driving – often due to headlights appearing too bright
• Impaired depth perception
• Colour distortion (some people describe this phenomenon as colours appearing washed out)
• Hazy or cloudy vision
• Frequent changes to the prescription in your glasses
• Better near vision for a while
• Double vision – often occurs even with one eye closed

As the cataract develops you will find stronger glasses no longer improve your sight. This can lead to an imbalance between the two eyes, which may cause headaches.

Causes

There are four different types of cataracts, each with different causes:

• Age-related cataract – this is by far the most common type of cataract
• Congenital cataract – some babies are born with cataracts or develop them in childhood
• Secondary cataract – cataracts are more likely to develop in people who have other health problems such as diabetes, or secondary to the use of some medications
• Traumatic cataract – a cataract from an eye injury may occur years later

Diagnosis

A regular eye examination is all that is needed to detect a cataract. The ophthalmologist (eye doctor) will check your vision and prescription. He or she will then put drops in your eyes to enlarge your pupils. This allows the doctor to see inside your eyes. A bright light is used to look inside, checking your lenses for cloudiness and checking for other problems inside of your eyes.

If the doctor determines you have a cataract, special tests will be undertaken to measure your eye for the intraocular lens (IOL) which will be inserted. These tests measure the curvature of your eye (keratometry) and the length of your eye (A-Scan). Your information is then used to calculate the correct strength IOL to give you the best visual result.

Treatment

A change in your glasses may be treatment enough for early cataracts. However, surgery is often the only effective treatment for more advanced cataracts. There is no evidence that a change in diet or medications will stop or slow cataract formation.

Laser Cataract Surgery

Cataract Laser surgeons are buzzing about femtosecond laser cataract surgery, a new technology aimed at helping surgeons achieve better results with toric and multifocal IOLs. Traditional cataract surgery is already pretty successful, but the lasers deliver a benefit that’s difficult to achieve with traditional techniques. They can create a perfectly round, perfectly centered opening in the front of the bag that holds the cataractous lens.

That’s especially important for some specialty IOLs. When the capsulorhexis (the name for the opening in the anterior portion of the capsular bag) is too small, it can interfere with the performance of multifocal lenses like the Bausch & Lomb Crystalens and the Alcon Restor. When it’s too large, it can cause any intraocular lens to tilt and push forward, particularly troublesome for toric and multifocal lenses. The lasers, which work external to the eye, with no need for sterile condition, also can make stepped clear corneal incisions, paracentesis incisions and relaxing incisions, and can at least partially emulsify the crystalline lens. Phacoemulsification and aspiration are still necessary, but the lasers supposedly make it possible to remove the cataractous lens much more gently, helping to preserve the other structures inside the eye.

The laser treatments will probably be applied outside of the OR, then the patient will be wheeled into the OR for the completion of the procedure, says a spokesperson for OptiMedica, one of 3 companies making lasers.  Currently only 1 company, LenSx of Aliso Viejo, Calif., holds FDA approval to market a femtosecond laser; the LensX laser is approved for capsulorhexis and incisions, but not yet for emulsification of the lens. An American surgeon, Steven Slade, MD, performed the first femtosecond cataract surgeries at the Slade-Baker Vision Center in Houston last month, says company spokeswoman Trudy Larkin. She says LenSx lasers will be for sale in October; she declined to disclose pricing, but she says the lasers will be available on a for-purchase or a fee-per-case basis. In addition to LenSx and OptiMedica, 1 other company, LensAR of Winter Park, Fla., also displayed a femtosecond cataract laser at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons in Boston last week.

Laser vision correction, or laser eye surgery, is a surgical treatment for people who want to reduce their dependence on glasses or contact lenses. If you are dissatisfied wearing glasses or contact lenses, then laser vision correction could be for you.

The revolutionary procedure known as LASIK has become one of the most popular and successful in the world today.

And now it is even better, thanks to the introduction of the IntraLase method, the 100% blade-free procedure that is especially suited to people who have previously been afraid to have anything done to their eyes!

Read on to learn more about the remakable advances in technology, and about what is involved in having laser vision correction.