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LCA-Vision is a provider of photorefractive keratectomy in the United States under the LasikPlus brand. [1] The company performs Custom LASIK, PRK and monovision treatment to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and reduce the effects of presbyopia. According to the company, one million laser vision correction procedures have been performed at its LasikPlus vision centers since 1991. [2]
Laser Centers of America, Inc., LCA-Vision's corporate predecessor, was incorporated in 1985. The company served as a professional management firm assisting hospitals and medical centers throughout the United States in managing their laser and minimally invasive surgery programs. [3]
In 1991, shortly after the first laser to perform laser vision correction procedures in Canada was approved, LCA-Vision began applying its laser operating capability to the field of refractive eye surgery, particularly to Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK), a procedure in which lasers are used to correct nearsightedness and other eye conditions. In 1995, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved PRK technology in the United States. In December 1995, LCA-Vision opened its first Laser Vision Correction center in the United States at its corporate headquarters in Cincinnati. [3] Founded and chaired by Stephen Joffe, Joffe was a practicing general surgeon and tenured, full professor at the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center. An early advocate of applying laser technology in medical disciplines, he founded a laser technology device company and later, a laser surgery management business with hospitals and medical centers throughout the U.S. [4]
In January 1996, shares of LCA-Vision common stock began trading on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market under the symbol LCAV. By the end of the century, LCA-Vision was the third largest publicly held vision correction company in the United States, with 21 locations in the United States and two in Canada. [5] The company also continued to provide laser and minimally invasive surgery programs for hospitals and medical centers. [3]
In 1997, the FDA approved the technology for a more advanced outpatient procedure for laser vision correction, Laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK), to treat nearsightedness, also using an excimer laser. [6] Within one year of its FDA approval, PRK became less and less popular following the development of LASIK, a procedure that allowed patients to have their vision corrected without the need for extended recovery from surgery. [5]
In August 1997, LCA-Vision completed its first major acquisition through the purchase of Summit Technology's laser vision correction centers, Refractive Centers International, Inc. (RCII). [7]
In July 1999, LCA-Vision introduced the "LasikPlus" name at its laser vision correction center in Baltimore, Maryland.
On December 9, 2009 LasikPlus announced its partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project to provide free LasikPlus corrective vision surgery to U.S. military veterans and their spouses/caregivers across the nation. [8]
These procedures were organized through a partnership among LasikPlus, Wounded Warrior Project and Fisher House Foundation. To date, the partnership has provided more than 70 warriors and seven caregivers with free LasikPlus laser vision correction across the country. [9]
Far-sightedness, also known as long-sightedness, hypermetropia, or hyperopia, is a condition of the eye where distant objects are seen clearly but near objects appear blurred. This blurred effect is due to incoming light being focused behind, instead of on, the retina wall due to insufficient accommodation by the lens. Small amount of hypermetropia in young patients is usually corrected by their accommodation, without any defects in vision. But, due to this accommodative effort for distant vision, people may complain asthenopic symptoms while constant reading. Some hypermetropes can see clear at distance, but near vision may be blurred due to insufficient accommodation. For this reason, this defect is referred as far-sightedness. If the hypermetropia is high, there will be defective vision for both distance and near. People may also experience accommodative dysfunction, binocular dysfunction, amblyopia, and strabismus. Newborns are almost invariably hypermetropic, but it gradually decreases as the newborn gets older.
LASIK or Lasik, commonly referred to as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. LASIK surgery is performed by an ophthalmologist who uses a laser or microkeratome to reshape the eye's cornea in order to improve visual acuity. For most people, LASIK provides a long-lasting alternative to eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser-assisted sub-epithelial keratectomy (LASEK) are laser eye surgery procedures intended to correct a person's vision, reducing dependency on glasses or contact lenses. LASEK and PRK permanently change the shape of the anterior central cornea using an excimer laser to ablate a small amount of tissue from the corneal stroma at the front of the eye, just under the corneal epithelium. The outer layer of the cornea is removed prior to the ablation.
Eye surgery, also known as ocular surgery, is surgery performed on the eye or its adnexa, typically by an ophthalmologist. The eye is a very fragile organ, and requires extreme care before, during, and after a surgical procedure to minimise or prevent further damage. An expert eye surgeon is responsible for selecting the appropriate surgical procedure for the patient, and for taking the necessary safety precautions. Mentions of eye surgery can be found in several ancient texts dating back as early as 1800 BC, with cataract treatment starting in the fifth century BC. Today it continues to be a widely practiced type of surgery, with various techniques having been developed for treating eye problems.
Refractive eye surgery is optional eye surgery used to improve the refractive state of the eye and decrease or eliminate dependency on glasses or contact lenses. This can include various methods of surgical remodeling of the cornea (keratomileusis), lens implantation or lens replacement. The most common methods today use excimer lasers to reshape the curvature of the cornea. Refractive eye surgeries are used to treat common vision disorders such as myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia and astigmatism.
Laser surgery is a type of surgery that uses a laser to cut tissue.
Automated lamellar keratoplasty (ALK), also known as keratomileusis in situ, is a non-laser lamellar refractive procedure used to correct high degree refractive errors. This procedure can correct large amounts of myopia and hyperopia. However, the resultant change is not as predictable as with other procedures.
Johnson & Johnson Vision is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson and its services include Intraocular lenses, laser vision correction systems, phacoemulsification systems, viscoelastic, Microkeratomes and related products used in cataract and refractive surgery.
LASIK MD is a North America provider of laser vision correction and the largest provider of laser vision correction in North America based on procedure volume. As of 2013, LASIK MD performs over sixty percent of all laser vision correction procedures in Canada.
Mark Cohen is a Canadian laser eye surgeon who practices in Montreal and Toronto. In 2001, he and Avi Wallerstein founded LASIK MD, Canada's largest provider of laser refractive surgery. As of 2013, LASIK MD performs over sixty percent of all laser vision correction procedures in Canada. He is one of only 14 certified CLasik instructors in North America.
Vision of humans and other organisms depends on several organs such as the lens of the eye, and any vision correcting devices, which use optics to focus the image.
Diffuse lamellar keratitis (DLK) is a sterile inflammation of the cornea which may occur after refractive surgery, such as LASIK. Its incidence has been estimated to be 1 in 500 patients, though this may be as high as 32% in some cases.
Jeff Machat MD, FRCSC, DABO is an ophthalmologist in the United States and Canada specializing in surgical vision correction better known as refractive eye surgery.
Peter S. Hersh is an American ophthalmologist and specialist in LASIK eye surgery, keratoconus, and diseases of the cornea. He co-authored the article in the journal Ophthalmology that presented the results of the study that led to the first approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the excimer laser for the correction of nearsightedness in the United States. Hersh was also medical monitor of the study that led to approval of corneal collagen crosslinking for the treatment of keratoconus.
Raymond Mark Stein, MD, FRCSC, DABO, is a Canadian ophthalmologist. He practices refractive and cataract surgery. He is the medical director of the Bochner Eye Institute in Toronto, Ontario and Chief of Ophthalmology at the Scarborough Hospital.
Emil William Chynn is a Chinese-American LASEK surgeon, author, researcher, and media personality. He owns the only laser vision correction center in the US specializing in Advanced Surface Ablation, which unlike LASIK is a newer, safer way to correct refractive errors that does not involve cutting a flap into the cornea. Dr. Chynn has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, on CNN and Discovery Channel, in Time Magazine online, as well as on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox News for LASEK as well as platinum "Eye Jewelry" and corneal tattoos. Dr. Chynn has also appeared on the Howard Stern Show as one of NYC's most eligible bachelors, as well on "Millionaire Matchmaker" with abrasive reality TV matchmaker Patti Stanger.
Post-LASIK ectasia is a condition similar to keratoconus where the cornea starts to bulge forwards at a variable time after LASIK, PRK, or SMILE corneal laser eye surgery. However, the physiological processes of Post-Lasik ectasia seem to be different from Keratoconus. The visible changes in the basal epithelial cell and anterior and posterior keratocytes linked with keratoconus were not observed in post-LASIK ectasia.
James J. Wynne is an American physicist at the IBM Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY.
PiXL is a modern non-invasive non-surgical vision correction procedure.
Herbert Edward Kaufman is an American ophthalmologist who discovered idoxuridine, the first clinically useful antiviral agent; co-developed with William Bourne the clinical specular microscope to view the live corneal endothelium, co-developed timolol with Thomas Zimmerman, a new class of medications to treat glaucoma; corneal storage media for eye banks; natamycin, the first commercially available medication to treat fungal infections of the eye; co-developed with Tony Gasset the use of bandage contact lenses; and was involved in the first laser vision photorefractive keratectomy of the eye with Marguarite McDonald.