What a crazy year we’ve had. 2020 has brought challenges to us that we never thought we would ever experience. Refractive surgery has certainly been something that has been around for 20 to 25 years, that has been very successful, but really COVID has surprisingly brought it to the forefront. Has made more and more people interested in refractive surgery. Why is that? Number one, it is a very safe, very clean procedure. It is performed in a hospital grade room with ventilation systems. It is performed under sterile technique. It is performed with all of our staff in masks and protocols. We are screening people and checking them in with temperature checks and limiting the number of people we have in the rooms. Our office is probably at about 10-15% capacity to try an help limit exposure. So coming into Aurora is really a very safe process. It is no something that increases risk of COVID exposure. It is actually probably close to being as safe as you being at home. We take pride in the fact that we are probably going above and beyond what we need to do in order to help protect you when you do come into our office.

In addition to limiting the number of patients that come into our office, we also screen all of our staff prior to them coming to work. They all have to have temperature screenings and COVID question screenings. Additionally, we are all wearing these N-95 masks in order to help limit transition not only to you or to the staff, but is something that we feel is safer when we are working relatively closely with you. During the eye examination, you’ll notice that we get relatively close to the patients, In order to help limit the exposure, number one, it is a relatively brief exam. Number two, we have also placed plastic screens between you and the staff members, not only when we are checking your eyes at the slit lamp, but also when we’re checking your prescription.

With all these precautions, there are still some people who don’t feel safe coming in to visit with us, and we totally understand that. W have set up the ability to do virtual consultations, where we can sit down and talk with you over Zoom in order to identify what you prescription is, what your needs are for refractive surgery, and talk with you about different options that would be available for you.

I believe that refractive surgery has always been a fantastic way to get you seeing the dependence on glasses or contacts. But now when people are home working on the computer more often and their eyes are drying out with their contacts, maybe their optical shop is closed or their optician or optometrist is not able to get them their glasses or contacts and they’re stranded without adequate vision. These have been experiences that patients have had coming in to tell us why they’re interested now in refractive surgery. The masks have been a huge component of why people are interested in refractive surgery. As you all know, if we are wearing masks and have glasses on, they tend to fog up intermittently. Sometimes we can jerry-rig things to help make that not happen. In fact I saw a woman who built a fan into her mask so that it would blow the fog off of her glasses. It was really an ingenious way to do this, but certainly not something that is easy as having refractive surgery. For the people who are needing reading glasses now as well, those of us over 50, that is something where we are starting to notice when we’re on the computer, the we’re on Zoom meetings all day, that we’re having to tilt our heads back too much in order to see the computer. That neck strain has also been a big component for people interested in refractive surgery. So there are many reasons why COVID has brought refractive surgery to the forefront, but it also shows that refractive surgery has been incredibly safe and something that is going to help support you and help you see for years to come.