Comparing LASIK Eye Surgery Lasers By Phillip Dye At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

To be honest, most people don't know a lot about LASIK surgery, and to them a LASIK procedure is a LASIK procedure. These people don't even know there's a difference in lasers used, and therefore they don't have a preference for one over the other. And indeed, the skill and experience of the surgeon matters more in the success of the operation than the laser itself. However, for those who are interested, here is some information you need in comparing LASIK lasers. Most reviews of the differences between lasers comes from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some factors you need to consider s you're making your comparison:

1) Results are better than FDA comparisons. Remember that FDA trials take place during the early part of the life cycle of a laser. However, in most cases, the laser has been improved since then. Add to this the fact that the surgeon's experience with LASIK improves over time, and you'll see that the FDA comparisons and data are limited in what they can tell you.

2) Remember that you can't fairly compare FDA data from one research study with the data from another FDA research study. This is because a laser manufacturer will go to the agency with different study designs, and they usually have different criteria for enrolling test subjects. It's true that every study has to answer some basic questions about the product's effectiveness and safety, but still, the study results are never meant to be compared with the results in another study. To get an accurate comparison of two separate lasers, you'd need random clinical trials in which the circumstances are deliberately controlled in such a way as to give an accurate comparison.

3) Remember that no study covers every conceivable possibility. The fact that you have a condition that a particular laser's manufacturer does not expressly say will be covered doesn't mean the laser won't work. It also doesn't mean that a different laser will (or will not) perform better in your situation.

4) Keep in mind that after the Food and Drug Administration approves a laser, your surgeon has the freedom to use it in any manner that he or she feels is appropriate (provided it's not in a manner that the courts would rule to be malpractice). In fact, this holds true for any FDA approved device or drug. To use a product for something for which it was not originally designed is called "off-label," and this is a perfectly acceptable practice. Doctors frequently use a particular technology for a patient's condition that was not part of the FDA's clinical research. As an example, even though aspirin was not designed in the laboratory and then tested as a treatment for stroke, still doctor's regularly recommend it as an "off label' method of decreasing your chances of having a stroke. That doesn't mean a doctor can be reckless with the LASIK laser. It just means that he is given some latitude, with the patient's approval, of being creative with his treatment recommendations.

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