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At Vista, we think that Dr. Soloway is the best eye surgeon in the world. But don't ALL web sites for LASIK and vision correction surgery say the same thing about their surgeon or center? Just how do you choose your surgeon?
Here are some things we think you ought to consider:
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Training: Getting and Giving
Experience counts: When is it too much?
Titles, titles: Director of .....?
"Hands"
What technology are they using?
Are You being treated as an individual?
How do you find a great surgeon?
Training: Getting and Giving
In order to be the best surgeon possible doctors need to start off with the best training there is. Dr. Soloway completed his residency training at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in ophthalmology. After the completion of his residency he remained at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary to complete another year of sub-specialty training in the surgical repair of ocular trauma. Dr. Soloway was one of the original surgeons to learn and perform Epikeratophakia and Automated Lamellar Keratomilieusis with a microkeratome (both precursors to LASIK in the 1980's, using similar surgical instruments to those used today for LASIK). Dr Soloway continues to train in all aspects of vision correction surgery. He travels to national and international meetings where he lectures and presents the results of his research activities. More importantly he continues to educate himself by networking with other innovative surgeons from around the world at these meetings to hear and see (with invitations to their operating rooms) the newest techniques under development (LASEK, MMC, Lamellar inlay, and Femtosecond laser to name a few recent ones).
Many LASIK surgeons will claim that they teach surgery to doctors, but are they true FDA certification courses? Dr. Soloway is the Director of the Alcon Center of Education in LADARVision LASIK. He is also on the permanent faculty of Alcon's Excellence in LASIK training course. Both of these courses provide certification on the Alcon Summit Autonomous LADARVision laser and the Summit KB Microkeratome. These courses are held four times a year at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, as well as over a dozen times annually throughout the United States. Dr. Soloway is the Director of Moria microkeratome training for surgeons. This course that he developed for Moria goes beyond simply certifying surgeons on the microkeratome. It provides extensive didactic, wet-lab and mini-fellowship education for surgeons in LASIK. These courses are held two or three times per year at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, and two or three times per year nationally and internationally.
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Experience counts: But when is it too much?
Experienced surgeons get better results and can have fewer problems, as they ought to be able to screen out patients that are inappropriate for one type of surgery. To have done thousands of LASIK surgeries as many doctors claim, the surgeon must be operating at least one full day every week. Find out when the surgeon operates, and ask if you can observe live surgery. Any surgeon with thousands of postoperative patients will have many of these patients in their office at all times, not just some staff who have had the surgery. Ask if you can speak to some of them for their opinions when you are at the office. At Vista, Dr. Soloway operates every Wednesday and Friday. Because we have helped thousands of patients eliminate their need for glasses, we always have random patients in the office who will be happy to share their experience of vision correction with you.
Nobody likes to think that they will have a problem with vision correction surgery, but unfortunately there can never be any guarantees with any surgery by anybody or anywhere. An old saying in surgical training is "if you don't want to have any complications, stop operating." Any surgeon that says they have never had a complication either hasn't done enough surgery, never sees their patients after the surgery (watch for them to say they have no complications that they are aware of) or is lying to you. With so many LASIK surgeons having been trained by Dr. Soloway and his internationally acclaimed reputation, surgeons and patients seek him out for his opinion and skill in repairing complex postoperative LASIK problems. Having successfully treated many patients that have consulted with him for problems that can occur during and after LASIK surgery, Dr. Soloway is better able to avoid these problems in his own patients due to his awareness, and better suited to surgically repair them if they occur. His experience and training give him the judgment needed to know when and how to treat a problem, and when it should be left to heal on its own.
Consider on the other hand however the extreme of a surgeon operating every day. Do you want a surgeon that is too busy to even talk to you? Where do they find the time to examine all their patients, spend enough time with them during surgery to be certain it is performed excellently, and see them at subsequent visits to monitor their results? How can someone who rarely or never even sees their patients after the surgery make any claims as to the results of their surgery? When do they find the time to train themselves on new techniques? If they are ONLY performing LASIK surgery, how could they possibly recommend a newer type of surgery that might be better for you? At Vista, we cannot give you the answer to these questions because this isn't the way we operate. Dr. Soloway is the Director of Vision Correction (not Laser Vision Correction) at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary because he is using all the different methods of vision correction available, not just LASIK. Be sure to find out where and who will be caring for you after the surgery and be certain you are comfortable with these arrangements. The majority of our patients have their postoperative care at our Vista offices, where Dr. Soloway is available. Due to his reputation, some patients travel from other states and countries to have Dr. Soloway perform their surgery. Our postoperative patients are always welcome in our offices, but arrangements can be made for care elsewhere when this is not feasible.
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Titles, titles: Director of .....?
Many LASIK surgeons are the director of some laser center or other, but what does that mean? For instance, Dr. Soloway is the surgeon director of Vista Alliance Eye Care Associates. Another (fictional) doctor might be the director at The (insert corporate / surgeon / location name here) LASIK Center. When a doctor sets up their own office or works for a corporate laser center, these titles can be given out for marketing purposes. There may be little importance to these titles because they are not typically granted for academic reasons. Dr. Soloway is the Director of Vision Correction at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, the first eye hospital in the western hemisphere and the largest not-for-profit eye hospital in the country.
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"Hands"
Even the best trained surgeon, using the most advanced surgical equipment still needs to have great "hands." But how can you really know for sure? As strange as it might seem, the fine motor skills required for eye surgery need to be developed and honed over a lifetime. Dr Soloway's mother was a nursery school teacher and his father a mechanic. They recognized and encouraged him with early training in both intellectual and mechanical skills. Dr. Soloway enjoyed working with his hands since he was young. He remembers playing with his Erector Set, using the small screws and nuts to build big things. He enjoyed making small plastic and wooden model boats and airplanes that would float and fly, as well as creating detailed wooden carvings. Later he learned to solder with fine detail for electric projects such as building radios. During high school he was the only science nerd to get A's in shop class. In his teens he worked to restore and wire antique lamps and chandeliers. These are some of the factors that make Dr. Soloway the surgeon that he is. He is able to use all the fine motor skills he has acquired and developed over all those years at his work and at home.
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What technology are they using?
There are numerous lasers now approved for refractive surgery. Original technology lasers were known as broad beam lasers because of the size of the laser's beam. All modern lasers use a scanning beam for better resolution. The most advanced lasers use an eye tracker to compensate for eye movement. The Alcon Summit Autonomous LADARVision laser uses the smallest spot size, and has the fastest eye tracking by far. It is also the only tracker approved by the FDA, and its approval labeling states that it improves the results. CustomCornea using LADARVision along with LADARWave is the first and only system approved to treat higher order wavefront abnormalities in the eye, and Dr. Soloway is the first (and only) surgeon using this technology in the Northeastern United States. Additionally, the LADARVision system has the capability of optically treating the largest area of the cornea with the least amount of tissue removal in order to minimize patients risks for night glare. Dr. Soloway was the original researcher to show that the treatment of larger optical zones can result in less glare, and has written the chapter about this treatment in the recently issued "Customized Corneal Ablations" book from Slack publishing. As the director of the LADARVision Center of Excellence at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, Dr. Soloway is the director of surgeon training for this laser system in the northeast United States.
As the principal investigator, and director of the Vision Correction Center at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, manufacturers depend on him to help develop many of the new instruments used in vision surgery. He has worked with Moria and Summit Technology in developing safer microkeratomes. He has over seven different types of microkeratomes to choose the best one from to suit your needs.
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Are you being treated as an individual?
Vision Correction Surgery is not "Cookie Cutter" surgery. Your surgeon will need enough time to properly evaluate your eyes and make a decision about which surgery (and which equipment) will be the best for you in their hands. Many surgeons never even check their patients refraction or eyeglass prescription personally, leaving that task to their technician or another doctor. They will need enough time to speak to you about the risks of the surgery and any individual risks that you might have. Many surgeons don't really know the results of their surgery because they never see their patients afterwards, or don't keep track of them. They will need enough time during surgery to be certain the centration photos are properly taken and aligned, and the laser is properly calibrated. They will need time to see you just after the surgery to ensure that everything is perfect, and bring you back to the operating room to repair it if it is not. At Vista Alliance, Dr. Soloway takes the time to do it right. He checks your prescription personally, comparing it to the prescription the other doctors and technicians got in the office. He has developed and uses some of the most refined techniques used to measure your largest pupil size in dark light to reduce your risk of night glare. He tracks his results to monitor his own surgery, continue his certification with the Council of Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance, and tell his patients what their risks actually are. He is perhaps the only surgeon in the world that takes his own centration photos, his own LADARWave measurements for CustomCornea, and he personally calibrates the laser before every one of his surgeries instead of leaving those tasks to his technician. After the surgery, Dr. Soloway will personally examine you at the slit lamp biomicroscope to ensure your surgery is perfectly finished, and won't let you leave the Vision Correction Center until it is.
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How do you find a great surgeon?
If you've read your way down to here you probably already know how. Many doctors advertise on TV, Radio, and in Newspapers in an effort to attract patients. What is claimed in these paid advertisements is not always reflective of the full truth. Dr. Soloway and Vista Alliance do not advertise for LASIK patients. Dr. Soloway has a vested interest in his patients' results because most of our patients come to us after hearing about our results and our service from a patient who has had the surgery. Others perhaps like you, find us on the internet. We have been personally recommended by our patients in many chat rooms and Dr. Soloway is certified by organizations like the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance. If you are interested in vision correction surgery we urge you to visit our office for an evaluation. While we evaluate and measure your eyes for vision correction surgery, you can evaluate and measure our commitment to providing the highest quality service to our patients!
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