NLIGHTENMENT OPHTHALMIC BUSINESS
The New Normal Refractive Surgery Returns After COVID-19 Lockdowns by Brooke Herron
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efractive procedures were among the first to go when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the “pause button” on non-emergent surgeries. Now, as social distancing measures begin to relax around the world, clinics are reopening for elective procedures. But are patients returning? To find out, we reached out to four refractive specialists from three different continents to gauge the new normal in patient volume and demographics in these areas.
India’s procedures resume at lower volume In India, things are slowly getting back to normal. “Refractive surgery has resumed, but it’s at a lesser volume. However, for many patients that are coming now, it’s because they have time to recover from surgery. They are not working full-time or are working from home, and so they have more time and flexibility,” shared Dr. Soosan Jacob, director at Dr. Agarwal’s Refractive and Cornea Foundation and senior
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consultant of Cataract and Glaucoma Services at Dr. Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals in Chennai. “Plus, postoperative follow-up is not as intensive for refractive surgeries compared with some other procedures, which makes them easy to undergo at this time,” she added. At her hospital, they offer all types of refractive procedures, but the majority of corrections are done with small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE). “SMILE has a lot of advantages. However, we do all the procedures, including laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK), femto-LASIK, photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), Contoura Vision, etc. We give them all the options — but many patients prefer SMILE if they can afford it,” continued Dr. Jacob. For the most part, patient demographics have remained similar to pre-pandemic conditions. “It’s remained steady, there’s not much change. However, we have seen more students coming in lately, those doing their graduate or
| Sept/Oct 2020
postgraduate studies. They have time now that colleges have closed down,” she said. “We are also seeing patients pre-marriage. They want to get rid of their glasses before marrying. All of these patients are still coming.” Safety measures have also increased. Dr. Jacob says her hospital has implemented safety protocols from the government, as well as associations like All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS), plus guidelines from her own hospital group, which has 90 locations. “We were involved with AIOS in forming their COVID-19 safety guidelines — and we put safety guidelines into place at our locations before the first lockdown was ever announced in India,” she said. “When we first heard about Wuhan, we knew this would be an issue, so we immediately prepared and implemented safety measures at a very high level.” This is not just for the safety of physicians and staff, but also for patients. “Each surgical patient gets personal protective equipment (PPE) and an N95 mask. This is important for
