Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

Eye Care Out Loud


Nov 13, 2020

Join White as he discusses the history of cataract surgery and where femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery, or FLACS, fits in. He also explains what he believes to be follies of FLACS and why some people continue to use this procedure.

  • Disclaimer :09
  • Intro :24
  • Today we’ll talk about femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery, or FLACS :36
  • Financial disclosures :57
  • The history of cataract surgery and where FLACS fits in 1:21
  • The lens supplies about 1/3 of the focusing ability of the human eye 3:35
  • Scheie Eye Institute 5:42
  • The discovery of poly(methyl methacrylate) 6:14
  • Extracapsular cataract extraction 7:14
  • Cataract surgery moves almost entirely to posterior chamber 7:44
  • The YAG laser 18:40
  • Phacoemulsification 19:21
  • All of these procedures were paid for by health insurance 11:41
  • The Crystalens 17:00
  • A petition for patients to have the right to pay to upgrade their implant experience 17:37
  • The era of refractive cataract surgery 19:03
  • A false timeline 19:32
  • Comparing things properly, you find a small difference between two surgeries 22:29
  • The impressive engineering of femtosecond lasers 23:30
  • Why do people use the femtosecond laser surgery? 24:53
  • I do a bit of work as a defense expert in malpractice cases 26:42
  • There are some bright spots here 29:21
  • Calling out two groups who don’t let patients decide whether they want FLACS 30:48
  • I have respect for them, but I don’t think there is justification for doing FLACS based on outcomes 36:13
  • Throwing a bone to the proponents of FLACS 37:14
  • That’s my take on FLACS 38:56

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. White at ophthalmology@healio.com. Follow us on Twitter @Healio_OSN @DarrellWhite

Disclosures: White reports being a consultant to Allergan, Bruder, EyePoint, Eyevance, Kala, Novartis, Ocular Therapeutix, Omeros, Rendia, Sun and Tearlab; speaker for Allergan, Eyevance, Kala, Novartis, Omeros and Sun; and ownership in Ocular Science.