5 Reasons to Seek Radial Keratotomy Correction:
Radial Keratotomy was a surgery performed in the 1980s that was popularized in Russia from an intelligent finding off a car windshield accident that left a young man’s cornea sliced in Radial (think spokes of a wheel) fashion that ended up flattening that cornea and hence correcting that patient’s nearsightedness (myopia).
Late Dr. Syatoslav Fyodorov (Slava) in Russia, applied a surgical algorithm to this surgery to make it safe and more predictable. Eye surgeons from all over the USA and world made their pilgrimage to Russia to study this new technique that could help people with nearsightedness and consolidate an era of surgical options for correcting people’s vision to see without glasses and contact lenses.
Slava, was a man larger than life with varied interests as Dr. Gulani and he met closely when he came home and Dr. Gulani would discuss his vision for the future of refractive surgery (surgery to help see without glasses and contact lenses).
He said to Dr. Gulani, “You have chosen a difficult path of innovating and more importantly, sharing with your colleagues, but I know you will be successful.”
Though Dr. Gulani thought very highly of Dr. Fyodorov, he mentioned his concerns about Radial Keratotomy surgery since it cuts into the cornea vertically while the corneal anatomy is in layers and hence, Dr. Gulani predicted long term instability and possibly continued effect which was proven true in what became one of the largest clinical trials in refractive surgery, The PERK Study.
Therefore, Dr. Gulani never performed any Radial Keratotomy surgery but incidentally became the surgeon who fixes complications of RK for patients and eye surgeons from around the world.
The Five Reasons to seek Radial Keratotomy Correction:
- Poor & Fluctuating Vision: RK surgery invariably leads to continued decline in vision quantity and quality due to continued flattening impact and irregular astigmatism over time. These symptoms can present as glare, halos around lights, poor night vision, difficulty reading and double /distorted vision. Since RK corneas are weakened, they can move and cause vision fluctuations throughout the day besides poor vision causing frustration at work and personal lives of patients.
- Presbyopia (Reading Vision Problems): Since most patients who had RK in the 1980s have aged, they need reading glasses that further exacerbate the vision issues caused by RK
- Cataracts: Also, with age, most RK patients develop cataracts and few surgeons are confident enough to perform cataract surgery through their corneal cuts and scars let alon predict the vision outcomes due to added fluctuations.
- Dry eyes: Due to the irregular contour of these cut corneas along with damage to the innervation, the tear film becomes unstable and hence results in dryness and continued irritability with sandy feeling in the eye
- Lifestyle Impact: RK patients live a restricted lifestyle due to compromised vision and additionally need to be careful of any trauma, accidental or from contact sport that can actually tear the eyeball on impact since the Radial cuts in the cornea cause effective weakness and susceptibility to rupture.
Dr. Gulani is a world resource for RK correction and teaches his innovative techniques and technological advances to colleagues internationally besides advising the eye care industry to tackle this very important patient population of ageing RK eyes.
It is also important to note that Dr. Gulani cautions eye surgeons against performing Lasik surgery to correct RK eyes (think of a cake that is cut into 8 slices but kept together on a plate. If you take a knife and now cut it horizontally, you will dislodge the effective tight placement of the cake pieces and hence cause irregular astigmatism and more instability long term).
He uses his proprietary techniques to help RK patients improve their vision, decrease dependence on glasses or contact lenses and also have successful cataracts surgery with new generation lens implants and in many cases even bring patients to 20/20 vision.
- Lazrplastique
- Lenzoplastique
- Phakic, Pseudophakic, X-Wave, Acommodative and Additive Lens Implants
- Crosslinking
- Lamellar Corneal Restoration techniques
- Corneal Recontouring techniques
- Kerato-Reconstructive techniques
- Corneal Transplants
Additionally, Dr. Gulani can also very much like an Artist & Vision architect, combine and stage different surgeries and technologies to tackle even more complex and severe grade of RK complications.
With a stellar record of successful vision outcomes and a worldwide RK patient clientele, Dr. Gulani’s experience and surgical mastery in this field is legend!
We welcome you to a personal consultation with Dr. Gulani for advanced diagnostic testing to determine your individualized vision plan (miVision – GulaniVision).