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American Morning
Lasik Eye Surgery
Aired May 08, 2003 - 08:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: This year, more than a million Americans will have laser eye surgery to improve their vision, and a new study says the size of the patient's pupils can affect the outcome of the procedure. So we're Paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN Center in Atlanta to shed some light on this.
I'm a very interested in doing this, but still a little scared, so what's the deal? The pupils, huh?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, really interesting. The numbers, first of all, that you mentioned, Heidi, really have just skyrocketed over the last eight years. Look at the numbers back in 1995, how many people were having this procedure back then, about 8,900 people. And now you fast forward to 2002, and the numbers up to 1.2 million.
So really, the numbers are skyrocketing. Here's one of the most common procedures now done in the United States. It does use a laser. It's a laser insightu caruto illusis (ph). That's what it stands for. The name is not that important, but the Lasik eye surgery that people have become so familiar with now actually reshapes the cornea. That's the clear outer layer of your eye. It can correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, a stigmatism, and just blurry vision in general. For most people, like you, as well, Heidi, getting rid of contacts or glasses that can be the big thing that they want to do.
Now there are still side effects that a lot of people are very concerned about when it comes to Lasik surgery, and a lot of them revolve around dim light vision. So you're talking about glares, you're talking about halos, you're talking about worsened night vision, and these are the things that most people complain about the most, and there are people who are poor candidates, more likely to have these sorts of things, that have to do with age, age Under the age of 18. Pregnancy, can be another risk factor, people who are taking certain medications, diabetes. We have also known for a long time that people who have really bad eyesight, people with particularly poor vision can be not a good candidate for this.
But also, people with large pupils. You mentioned that. People with large pupils is not something you think about large pupil size, but that's exactly what doctors at the University of Rochester wrote about and published in the particular meeting about this particular procedure. If your pupils are too large, and they use a cutoff around seven millimeters, that you may not be the best candidate for this.
Think of it like this, if you're a window washer and you're trying to clean the entire window, even when the blind is down, you got to make sure that when that blind comes up, that people can still see out of the entire window. So if they're not enhancing a large enough area using the Lasik, people who have large pupils may not be getting the best results.
So pupil size, Heidi, this as you said, is a very important factor in trying to determine who is a good candidate for this procedure.
COLLINS: Quickly, Sanjay, it is so expensive. I think like $1,800 an eye at least is one estimate that I heard. Any talk amongst the medical community of insurance starting to think about footing the bill for some of this some.
GUPTA: Well, you know, there has been a lot of talk of that, and there are some insurance companies that offer that as part of a plan. You can sort of buy into that. Certainly if it's medically necessary for some reason because of certain eye disease or something like that, you can't wear your contact lenses or something like that, there are some policies that allow that, but not as a general policy. There are very few insurance companies that will pay for this at this time.
COLLINS: That's kind of a luxury still. All right, so Paging Dr. Gupta. Thanks you so much. We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 8, 2003 - 08:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: This year, more than a million Americans will have laser eye surgery to improve their vision, and a new study says the size of the patient's pupils can affect the outcome of the procedure. So we're Paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN Center in Atlanta to shed some light on this.
I'm a very interested in doing this, but still a little scared, so what's the deal? The pupils, huh?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, really interesting. The numbers, first of all, that you mentioned, Heidi, really have just skyrocketed over the last eight years. Look at the numbers back in 1995, how many people were having this procedure back then, about 8,900 people. And now you fast forward to 2002, and the numbers up to 1.2 million.
So really, the numbers are skyrocketing. Here's one of the most common procedures now done in the United States. It does use a laser. It's a laser insightu caruto illusis (ph). That's what it stands for. The name is not that important, but the Lasik eye surgery that people have become so familiar with now actually reshapes the cornea. That's the clear outer layer of your eye. It can correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, a stigmatism, and just blurry vision in general. For most people, like you, as well, Heidi, getting rid of contacts or glasses that can be the big thing that they want to do.
Now there are still side effects that a lot of people are very concerned about when it comes to Lasik surgery, and a lot of them revolve around dim light vision. So you're talking about glares, you're talking about halos, you're talking about worsened night vision, and these are the things that most people complain about the most, and there are people who are poor candidates, more likely to have these sorts of things, that have to do with age, age Under the age of 18. Pregnancy, can be another risk factor, people who are taking certain medications, diabetes. We have also known for a long time that people who have really bad eyesight, people with particularly poor vision can be not a good candidate for this.
But also, people with large pupils. You mentioned that. People with large pupils is not something you think about large pupil size, but that's exactly what doctors at the University of Rochester wrote about and published in the particular meeting about this particular procedure. If your pupils are too large, and they use a cutoff around seven millimeters, that you may not be the best candidate for this.
Think of it like this, if you're a window washer and you're trying to clean the entire window, even when the blind is down, you got to make sure that when that blind comes up, that people can still see out of the entire window. So if they're not enhancing a large enough area using the Lasik, people who have large pupils may not be getting the best results.
So pupil size, Heidi, this as you said, is a very important factor in trying to determine who is a good candidate for this procedure.
COLLINS: Quickly, Sanjay, it is so expensive. I think like $1,800 an eye at least is one estimate that I heard. Any talk amongst the medical community of insurance starting to think about footing the bill for some of this some.
GUPTA: Well, you know, there has been a lot of talk of that, and there are some insurance companies that offer that as part of a plan. You can sort of buy into that. Certainly if it's medically necessary for some reason because of certain eye disease or something like that, you can't wear your contact lenses or something like that, there are some policies that allow that, but not as a general policy. There are very few insurance companies that will pay for this at this time.
COLLINS: That's kind of a luxury still. All right, so Paging Dr. Gupta. Thanks you so much. We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
