LASIK Surgery Rate High Among LASIK Surgeon Family Members

The 2008 American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting got underway this weekend in Atlanta. Dr Richard Duffey presented the results of his  12th annual survey of refractive surgery trends. This survey tracks trends among refractive surgeons.  There was a new question on this year's survey that asked surgeons if they or a family member had undergone PRK or LASIK.  The results showed a high penetration for these procedures among surgeons, their spouses, children, and siblings.

"The penetration rate among the refractive surgeons is about four times that in the general public,” he said. "This data and the results for the proportions of family members reported to have undergone these procedures indicate that the more we know about the surgery, the higher the likelihood we are to have it ourselves and recommend it for our loved ones.”

This certainly holds true for me and my family, I have performed refractive surgery on every family member of mine who was a good candidate for it:

• I have perfect vision and do not wear glasses.
• Both my parents had LASIK performed by me about 10 years ago.  I also have implanted the Restor IOL in both when they developed cataracts. 
• I performed LASIK on my only sister, Marcia, about 10 years ago.
• I performed LASIK on both my brother-in-laws about 10 years ago.
• I performed LASIK on my son, Michael, 6 years ago. 
• My wife, Melissa, and two daughters, Jamie and Arielle, do not wear glasses.  

Just like those respondents of the survey, I am so confident in the results LASIK and other refractive procedures that I have been performing them on my family members for the past decade.