The Naked Eye: How the revolution of laser surgery has unshackled the human eye

Book Preface

INTRODUCTION

If you want a book that explains all the pros and cons of laser eye surgery in an unbiased manner, in a language that you can understand and, as a result, make a decision as to whether or not this is for you, then you have found it.

This book is unique in that it is not the usual textbook whereby doctors massage their egos by bombarding the reader with complex and often irrelevant clinical information, and compound this further by intimidating you with the unnecessary technical language of ophthalmology. In crystal-clear and precise language it delivers all the information that anyone requires prior to considering laser eye surgery. Even as an expert in this field, I sometimes think that all the acronyms for vision correction procedures such as PRK, LASIK, LASEK and ASLA are entries in a secret competition between ophthalmologists and the military to see who can produce the least understandable combinations of letters . Ophthalmologists have a reputation amongst doctors for using words that even other doctors don’t understand. However, the utmost attention has been paid throughout this book, through its jargon-free approach, to make sure that the lay reader understands everything.

This book is written by two special doctors who represent the very best of Australian medicine and who, at the same time, have achieved rightful positions of leadership in the international world of ophthalmology. Michael Lawless has played a major role in the International Society of Refractive Surgery and was the first ophthalmologist to really appreciate that the tests we carry out in clinics – e.g. reading the letter chart – are in reality hopeless measures in terms of determining the quality of vision after laser eye surgery. He designed a very special questionnaire rapidly adopted throughout the world to truly measure the quality of visual life before and after laser eye surgery. For the first time, patients actually had a say and could provide feedback as to how clear their vision really was in terms of this surgery.

Gerard Sutton realised that a major problem in the first technique in the early days of vision correction surgery was a transient loss of clarity of the cornea. He went on to carry out research which removed this problem and which has had profound implications for our understanding of wound-healing in all parts of the eye. The innovation, open-mindedness and clear thinking of these two individuals are the secrets of the future success of this volume.

Michael and Gerard have a great advantage in putting this text together in that they were two of the early pioneers in this field, having been there almost from the beginning. As a result they know personally all the major players who contributed as pioneers, and have lived through the history and development of vision correction surgery. They also jointly possess the ability to assimilate technical information in a rapidly changing field with the powers of discrimination to determine between good and bad advances. They have shared their considered opinions in the various chapters of this volume and have done so with their own remarkable brands of humour. By stamping their personalities on every page of this book they allow the reader to view the behind-the-scenes trials and tribulations that went on to perfect the most successful form of surgery in all fields of medicine. Their own contributions are immense and cannot be over-emphasised and are greatly appreciated by both their peers and their patients. I consider it a great honour to be invited to write this introduction and commend the book to you as I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as I did, and you will certainly use it as a lifelong reference for laser eye surgery for both yourself and all your friends interested in this field.

Professor John Marshall