Health
DR. Curtis Sorgini is the only doctor to offer a permanent excimer laser clinic in northern ontario.
Journeying to new sight
WENDY BIRD
Spring 2009 |
Not that wearing glasses is a bad thing — there’s a growing trend of perfectly sighted people who wear prescription-less frames as a fashion statement or as a way to look brainier.
Eyeglass styles are continually evolving, thankfully, and can be as chic as any up-to-the-minute fashion accessory.
But medical treatments for visually challenged people are evolving too. Computer-assisted surgery, using a laser, has opened a whole new world for people dreaming of throwing away their prescription glasses.
Catherine Wiss first considered laser eye surgery more than a decade ago.
“I was interested in it largely because it was possible,” the energetic teacher and mother of three said.
“I was seeing a lot of ads for it and I was curious to learn more. I didn’t find my contacts particularly comfortable and didn’t wear them much. I also thought of the pleasure of waking up in the morning and being able to see what time it was without squinting or reaching for my glasses.”
For active people, wearing glasses can be a hindrance, which was something that bugged Marko Nurmikivi.
“I was tired of fogged-up glasses in the winter and looking for my glasses after swimming in the summer,” he said. “It also got annoying after a while when I kept breaking glasses when playing sports.”
The geologist with Xstrata Nickel and father of two decided to get his eyes lasered in April 2003.
Neither Nurmikivi nor Wiss has regretted getting laser surgery. And both say the only thing they would have changed was getting the surgery sooner.
But for many people, the prospect of eye surgery is daunting. The risk of going blind is something that keeps some folks from even looking into the procedure.
However, statistics published in the Archives of Ophthalmology point out an interesting revelation. Researchers confirm that LASIK surgery (one of the most popular forms of laser eye surgery) is safer than contact lens use.
One study revealed sight-threatening infections from contact lens use occur in one in 2,000 contact lens wearers, whereas only one in 10,000 patients risk significant vision loss due to complications from LASIK.
Before making the decision, Wiss sought the advice of her father-in-law, Dr. Rene Wiss, a retired Sudbury ophthalmologist.
“I knew if he approved of the surgery and the potential risks inherent in any surgery, that it was going to be worthwhile and the relatively small risks worth taking,” she said. Currently, Dr. Curtis Sorgini is the only doctor to offer a permanent excimer laser clinic in Northern Ontario.
Some folks make the trek down to southern Ontario to get laser eye surgery where the prices for the procedure can be significantly less. But when it comes to one’s eyesight, the surgery’s price-point shouldn’t be the governing principal.
“I had a couple of friends who had the procedure done and were very pleased with the results,” Nurmikivi said.
“It was also easier for me to stay in town for the procedure. Within two hours the procedure was done and I was at home recovering.”
Wiss’s experience was also positive. “Sorgini was well qualified and had a good success rate with his previous clients. The convenience of follow-up visits being local was important to me.”
Post-operatively both Wiss and Nurmikivi experienced some fairly common side effects, including “halos” around bright lights at night, which can make driving slightly more difficult.
“I have very slight halos around stars and the moon,” Wiss said. “I enjoy a little bit of star-gazing, and it is just a reminder that I had the surgery. It is so slight a problem though, it certainly wouldn’t have influenced my decision to not get the surgery.”
