Folly of FLACS Eye Care Out Loud

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.