RK (RADIAL KERATOTOMY) BECOMES A SKILL FOR OTHER AMERICAN EYE SURGEONS
Word of success for patients with myopia who experienced RK spread to other American eye surgeons. They either became disciples of the disciple - Bores - or traveled overseas to learn directly from the master.
In Denison, Texas, the Keratorefractive Society was formed. Its credo says it is "an independent, not for profit organization, founded for the express purpose of disseminating and facilitating the exchange of information concerning refractive alterations of the cornea and their surgical corrections. It serves as a repository for clinical data obtained under protocol by its members for purposes of analysis and professional evaluation.
"The Society's educational objectives are to stimulate research and investigation in keratorefraction in order to establish a broad base to evaluate the clinical applicability of techniques in this area. Such scientific exchange needs to be undertaken to avoid errors and controversy which have accompanied other popularized surgical techniques in recent years.
"The Society firmly believes that no single subgroup of surgeons should be the exclusive evaluator of any single procedure. It defends the right of any well trained and responsible ophthalmologist to undertake clinical investigations under well defined protocols with due regard for his patient's informed consent and rights.
"Membership in the Society is open to all ophthalmologists and scientists who have an interest in this area."
Jerry Zelman, M.D. of Hialeah, Florida, Norman O. Stahl, M.D., of Long Island, New York, an attending ophthalmologist at the New York Creative Surgery Center, New York City, and Herbert L. Gould, M.D. of White Plains, New York, who is associate clinical professor of ophthalmology at New York Medical College, went to take training with Dr. Svyatoslav N. Fyodorov in Moscow. In a presentation before optometrists attending the 1980 Optifair meeting at the Hilton Hotel in New York City. Dr. Gould described how it is to take such Russian training.
Dr. Gould said: "In general Russian medicine is behind American medicine but as far as ophthalmology is concerned, an anomaly exists. Russian ophthalmology is ahead of eye surgery practiced in the United States. Fyodorov supervises 200 eye surgeons working in a 400-bed hospital devoted to the treatment of eye conditions. Most instruments are made in West Germany and much of the equipment is American-made. The waiting room of the Moscow Eye Institute looks like the reception area of Bellevue Hospital in New York City.
"The surgeons don't use rubber gloves for Operating just surgical scrubbing causing them to have the reddest hands you've ever seen. They do wear booties on their feet to cut down on infection. Operating tables stand side by side in the same room so that two cases performed by two surgeons will be operated on simultaneously. Patients are awake and alert. Anesthesia is merely with the use of drops. The heart of the whole RK operation is the micrometric knife; a knife with a micrometer on its back that tells the surgeon precisely - with a few microns - the amount of corneal tissue being incised. It helps an ophthalmologist perform a more controlled operation."
Dr. Gould described to the Optifair audience, consisting mostly of optometrists, how Misha, the Russian chauffeur who works for the Moscow Eye Institute, meets important guests at the airport. Misha, you may recall, is the first person on whom Dr. Fyodorov performed radial keratotomy. It is Misha's habit, upon learning that the guest is a visiting ophthalmologist, to reach into the limousine glove compartment and reveal his old, unused eyeglasses. They have lenses that look like the bottom of cola bottles and are the ones he had disposed of after undergoing RK. Not being nearsighted any longer, Misha's eyeglasses were just objects of curiosity for him. Now Misha wears no lenses at all. He drives without visual aids.
"A huge basket piled high with spectacles sits in one corner of the institute. It represents the result of successful RK's for people," Dr. Gould additionally explained. Patients throw away their spectacles following the operation.
Other American eye surgeons have taken training with Fyodorov. Then they return to this country and teach the technique to fellow professionals. Moreover, Fyodorov has traveled to the United States about half-a-dozen times and participated in training sessions for American ophthalmologists. They have awarded him various honors for his advancements in vision care.
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