Staar Surgical - Jesse

Staar Surgical - Jesse

ROBERT P. RIVERA, MD: Hi, I’m Dr. Rob Rivera and we have the privilege of talking further about patients' vision today with one patient who used to represent one of the most challenging and truly frustrating areas for those of us who have been doing refractive surgery for a number of years. Now it turns out that a lot of patients do not have the type of measurements that we could safely recommend a procedure like Lasik for. In some cases, PRK would become an option but frankly there were so many years there that we would have these individuals come to our practice where we simply would have to say wait for something better. That day has arrived. We have one such patient that has taken advantage of this type of technology and so we're pleased to have our little discussion here with Jesse Alvarado who is a representative for one of the major ophthalmic companies and Jesse, what does it feel like knowing that you used to frustrate people like myself with the type of vision you had? MR. JESSE ALVARADO: You know I'm definitely glad it's here. It's taken a bit for the technology but being in the ophthalmic industry, seeing the joy that this technology is bringing to patients but also the ease of having it in the back for the surgeons, refractive surgeons as well. DR. RIVERA: Now we're talking in your case about having been told you were not a candidate for Lasik because of an excessively steep cornea and an irregular corneal surface, irregular topography if I understand correctly. MR. ALVARADO: Correct. DR. RIVERA: The procedure that was discussed with you as perhaps a secondary choice to Lasik would have been PRK. MR. ALVARADO: Right. DR. RIVERA: Yet you chose against that. Tell me why that is. MR. ALVARADO: You know I do want a lot of activities outside and you know I--you know prior to getting into the ophthalmic industry, I was actually in the optometry industry and worked for one of the leading contact lens manufacturers. So I got to deal with quite a bit of with optometrists and these optometrists I saw quite often their--the post ops for their PRK and their Lasik patients and it was very consistent that dry eye--dryness was an issue. Specifically with PRK you know it took a while for vision to stabilize. There was some pain that was--that was going through the process. So kind of going through the background that I've had with the refractory procedures, I learned about the ICL and figured out that, you know, hey this is an amazing technology. This is pretty much just putting a contact lens in your eye to correct your myopia and it just seemed like a great fit. I wasn’t going to have the issues with dryness and you know my life would be very functional just as I was with contact lenses but minus the hassles of dealing with contact lenses. DR. RIVERA: You mentioned the one step that really changed things for my practice is seeing patients like yourself and that is the Visian ICL. When the Visian ICL received FDA approval in its myopic form-- MR. ALVARADO: Right. DR. RIVERA: --we could then take patients like yourself and offer you a visual procedure to correct your vision not just well, not just good but as we later found out, vision that was exceptional in many cases to even Lasik. It's come to the point where as a surgeon doing these procedures, I myself tell patients you can have Lasik if they're good Lasik candidates. You can have PRK if they're good PRK candidates and you will have excellent vision but if you have the ICL you will have excellent plus vision. MR. ALVARADO: Right. DR. RIVERA: So it's high def. What has your experience been now that you have received ICL surgery relative to that type of visual acuity? MR. ALVARADO: It's vision that I've never experienced before. Prior to contact lenses and being in the industry, I tried every single contact lens from a touric [phonetic] contact lens to you know every type of contact lens manufactured out there and my best corrected vision was still 20/20. With my ICLs even two hours post op after my surgery, I was already seeing 20/15 so I gained a line of vision just two hours. DR. RIVERA: Now wait a minute. This was two hours after your surgery. MR. ALVARADO: Two hours after surgery. DR. RIVERA: You were 20/15, better than you had ever seen before. MR. ALVARADO: Right. so to my surprise, I knew my vision was going to improve and I was actually just hoping I could get to 20/20 but being at 20/15 two hours post op was, you know, I had heard stories and heard from other refractory surgeons that they’ve experienced this with patients. I didn’t know how much it was true but just from my personal perspective of seeing it, I didn’t expect it to happen that quickly but it did. It was amazing. DR. RIVERA: And as an ophthalmologist we see this time and time and time again where patients who just weren’t good candidates are all of the sudden excellent candidates for a procedure that gives them that excellent plus vision. Would you ever decide differently now? Knowing what you’ve been through and seeing the way that you see the world right now, would you ever change your mind? MR. ALVARADO: No. I'm very happy that my surgeon recommended the procedure to me as well. realizing that the corneal was irregular, there was another laser as an option with a PRK and basically telling you your cornea's a little weak and by PRK it won't weaken it near as much but we'll probably get you where you want to be but you know let's leave that out of the equation. Let's just put a lens in that'll correct your myopia. It felt--I felt very confident about it. I felt very safe and with the outcomes, you know, there's nothing I would have changed about the entire procedure. DR. RIVERA: Well, that’s amazing. Would you recommend this to other patients in your particular dilemma? MR. ALVARADO: I do and I don’t think many people actually know what's going on with their cornea. I think most people just go under refractory surgery and expect to get what they--what, you know, Lasik or whatever procedure they're asked but I think patients are now going into these practices and really wanting options and that’s what I received and I was very thankful for my surgeon for giving me those options. So yeah, I would suggest it to anyone who's going in any refractory surgery. At least do some research on it. DR. RIVERA: Let me take this one step further. In my practice what we've done also is we've identified those patients who obviously are good candidates for Lasik and PRK and we discuss with them that they can have this procedure as a step forward because they can accomplish better quality of vision. Would you agree with that or how does that make you feel knowing that it's not just a procedure for people who are excluded from other procedures like yourself but that we can open it up to everybody else? Would you agree with that type of statement? MR. ALVARADO: I would definitely agree with it. I think there's an advantage for every procedure that you have to offer in your practice as well. It seems to be with the ICL there are significantly more advantages, the reversibility to its equality of vision and yes, it does cost more than Lasik or PRK. So I think that those advantages will basically kind of help patients appreciate the premium price that they pay for the technology. DR. RIVERA: Well, I want you to understand there was a day when I dreamed we would be able to take care of patients like yourself who were not candidates for these other procedures and I never thought I would see the day. Thank you. I appreciate the fact that we are here talking with you. You’ve had it done and that day is here. Thank you so much Jesse. MR. ALVARADO: Thank you.