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Recent debate in the US over how qualified eye surgeons need to be has been given a lot of media attention lately.
And, understandably, proposals to allow optometrists - who have no specialised surgical training - to conduct
laser eye surgery have caused a lot of controversy.
As
laser eye surgery techniques, which were perfected in the 1980s, become more commonplace it is understandable that broadening access to the procedure becomes a major issue.
However, critics argue that allowing unqualified surgeons to carry out such operations could pose a threat to public health. And none have been more opposed to the move than ophthalmologists - who have to undergo extensive surgical training to practice in the States.
In an article for the Charleston Daily Mail, qualified ophthalmologist Edgar C. Gamponia claimed that the only standard which residents of West Virginia should accept is that of 'surgery by surgeons'.
Gamponia said: "Unlike ophthalmologists, optometrists are not medical doctors or doctors of osteopathy. They do not go to medical school.
"They do not perform a four-year hospital internship and residency program to learn
eye surgery (12,000 additional hours, or four years, of supervised training in the practice of medicine and the surgery of the eye)."
He added: "I can assure you from surgical experience that the cut and burn of a laser is as real and as consequential as one made with a surgeon's scalpel."
His views were recently echoed by Dr Stephen Powell, an ophthalmologist who also opposes the legislation.
Powell said: "These lasers do three things. They cut, burn and vaporise. That's what happens to the tissue in the eye. And once you've done it, you can't go backwards."
An alternative to potentially dangerous
laser eye surgery is i-GO's Ortho K over night contact lenses, which have similar benefits to surgery but none of the irreversible side effects that can be incurred during the procedure - including blurred vision or haloing.
Eye Health: Find out if i-GO over night contact lenses will suit you.
By Nick Howard
