(SNEC) suspended all Lasik surgery last year...

Mar 14, 2007

Eye Centre stops all Lasik ops after spike in infections


By Salma Khalik & Ben Nadarajan



THE Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) has suspended all Lasik surgery - at least till the end of this month.It stopped all such operations last Wednesday, following a spike in the number of infections - 17 cases last Monday and Tuesday - among patients who had this operation to correct short-sightedness.


This is the first time the centre has suspended its Lasik procedure since it began offering it in 1996.


The type of inflammation the 17 had is not dangerous and will usually clear up on its own, but the centre decided against doing any more such operations until all equipment has been inspected.


Seventeen cases in two days count as a spike when compared to the first two months of the year, when the centre saw 25 cases of inflammation following Lasik.


Having 25 cases puts SNEC within international limits of inflammation - up to 3.2 per cent of patients is the norm - but it is still much higher than normal for the centre, which can go for months without a single such case.


All 17 patients affected last week are recovering with treatment and will be monitored for some time. Another cause for concern, however, is that none of these cases were mild ones.






The patients suffered some blurring of vision, a result of white blood cells rushing to the surgery site.


Professor Donald Tan, SNEC’s deputy medical director, said there did not seem to be a pattern to the cases. The patients were operated on by different surgeons using all three machines at the centre.


Neither private eye specialists nor SNEC’s outlet at Mount Elizabeth Hospital have come across similar spikes, so the problem appears to be centred at the SNEC in Outram.


Checks will now been done on the Lasik machines by engineers. The facility’s air-conditioning system and the sponges and cleaning fluids used will also be inspected.


Prof Tan said: ‘We like to over-react a little. It may upset some patients, but we put safety first.’


Aside from Lasik, there have been no problems with any other procedures done at the centre.


Following the suspension, some patients will have their Lasik surgery done at SNEC’s Mount Elizabeth outlet.


But because SNEC does between 500 and 600 Lasik surgeries a month, not all can go there. About 160 patients have been told that they will have to wait till next month.


Because there is no subsidy for Lasik, some patients may well turn to the private sector instead of waiting.


A civil servant who was to have been operated on last week may do just that. She wants to get it done soon because she is planning a dive trip and ‘having perfect vision makes it easier to dive’.


Patients who need assistance can call the centre’s hotline on 6322-9599.