Surgeons are calling for the rules on laser eye surgery to be strengthened after an apparent rise in patients receiving substandard care. A private hospital in Harley Street says that increasing numbers of people are seeking its help after being given bad advice or poor treatment elsewhere. And it says it is now time for the industry to be ‘taken to task’. A leading private eye hospital is calling for tighter regulations on laser eye surgery after noting a rise in the number of people who have been given inaccurate information or poor care. Up to 120,000 Britons have laser eye surgery each year to correct long and short-sightedness, and almost one in 20 of them suffer some sort of complication.Most operations are done privately, with patients paying up to £5,000 to have both eyes corrected. Last year, the consumer group Which? warned that not all clinics are properly explaining the risks involved. Regret: Law graduate Lois Roberts . Law graduate Lois Roberts said that surgery to correct her short-sightedness left her in agony. She suffered from painfully dry eyes after she had the laser treatment, which was caused by damage to the nerves that stimulate tears. And in the years after the procedure, Miss Roberts said she had to apply eye drops every day to alleviate the pain, which in itself can bring on chronic eye inflammation. Miss Roberts had used contact lenses and glasses since she was at primary school but found they were a nuisance when playing sport. She had the £1,500 treatment as part of her 21st birthday present in 2010. But it wasn’t the pain-free experience she was promised. She said: ‘I’m upset I wasn’t warned enough at my initial consultation that anything like this could happen. I would have thought much harder about it had I known the risks.’ Miss Roberts, from Gwynedd in North Wales, suffered from poor night vision and ‘floaters’ in the years after she had the surgery. ‘The floaters are like clumps of black lines and dots,’ she said. ‘I’ve been reassured they’re harmless, but they are incredibly annoying.’ Floaters can occur as a result of a popular form of laser surgery in which a flap is cut into the surface of the cornea — the clear, domed part of the eyeball. Poor night-time vision can occur if part of the cornea has been lasered incorrectly. Despite the side effects, the procedure did correct Miss Roberts’ vision. Its investigation found that one in three consultations by clinics offering the treatment was of poor quality. Now, surgeons are speaking out. They say that despite the term ‘laser eye surgery’, the procedure doesn’t have to be done by a surgeon or even someone with specialist eye knowledge. Instead, all that is required is that the person doing the operation is qualified as a doctor of some sort. Dr Saj Khan, an eye surgeon at the London Eye Hospital, said the unit is treating more patients who have received unsatisfactory treatment elsewhere than five years ago. And other specialist clinics are seeing a similar rise. Dr Khan added: ‘At the moment, anybody who has a basic doctor’s qualification could in theory go off and spend a few hours or a couple of days learning how to use the kit and set off giving treatment.’ Bobby Qureshi, the hospital’s medical director, called for a compulsory register of practitioners that patients could use to find a suitably qualified surgeon. He said: ‘Laser eye surgeons are, at present, only required to be registered as doctors; no specialist qualifications are legally required to carry out a laser eye procedure. The London Eye Hospital in Harley Street said laser eye surgeons are presently only required to be registered as doctors - and no specialist qualifications are legally required . ‘And with those who trained abroad, it’s even more difficult to establish levels of expertise in specific treatments. This makes a central register all the more important, as it gives patients the tools to check exactly in whose hands they are putting their vision. ‘We have seen a rising number of people arriving at the London Eye Hospital who have previously been given inaccurate information or poor care and we strongly believe that it is time for this industry to be taken to task.’ The Royal College of Ophthalmologists says complications occur in almost one in 20 cases. These include dry eyes and problems with night vision. It says that severe visual problems are ‘very unusual’, but some patients require corneal surgery or hard contact lenses to restore satisfactory vision. It advises patients to quiz clinics about how often they perform the treatment and what their success rates are. A spokesman said that while in theory the operation could be done by someone who is registered as a doctor but does not have further qualifications, the likelihood of this happening is ‘very, very negligible’. She added that the organisation is working with the Royal College of Surgeons to improve standards.
Warning comes from The London Eye Hospital in Harley Street.
Comes after rise in patients previously given poor information or care.
Said laser eye surgeons are presently only required to be registered as doctors - and no specialist qualifications are legally required.