New Laser Vision Center Opens at NNMC - National Naval Medical Center, Bethseda - Brief Article

All Hands, April, 2001 by Ed Austin

The National Naval Medical Center (NNMC), Bethesda, Md., recently opened a laser refractive surgery center under the Navy's Corneal Refractive Surgery Program, which makes the surgical procedure available to active-duty Sailors and Marines. The new facility, located in the Ophthalmology Clinic at NNMC, started screening candidates for the surgical program last October and conducted its first laser surgeries by mid-November.

The program is intended to serve those active-duty members whose mission effectiveness and personal safety would be most enhanced by eliminating the need for wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses while performing their military duties.

While active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel may request evaluation to determine suitability for surgery regardless of job specialty or warfare community, priority will be placed on Sailors and Marines whose military duties require them to work in extreme physical environments that preclude the safe use of glasses or contact lenses.

Among the first to have the procedure done at NNMC's new Laser Vision Center was a group of Sailors assigned to the Experimental Dive Unit in Panama City, Fla. According to Boatswain's Mate 1" Class Troy Larck, who wears contacts when he dives, this will eliminate the need for wearing lenses.

"I have had a contact lens slip out of place during a dive, and there is not much you can do about it while you have your helmet on," said Larck.

Quartermaster 2nd Class Randall Chase, who has never been able to wear contact lenses comfortably due to his astigmatism, looks forward to not having to worry about eyeglasses. Both Sailors looked on as their shipmate Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Robert Huffman led the group getting the laser surgery.

LCDR Greg Wheelock, director of the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Fleet Liaison Unit, Indian Head, Md., was also among the first to have the laser surgery. Shortly after a post-surgical exam, he was able to read words on a sign that he would not have been able to read without his glasses before the surgery. His duties require him to not only perform underwater dives, but to parachute as well. He indicated that contact lenses can be awkward when parachute jumping due to the airflow across the eyes. He will now be able to leave the lenses behind.

NNMC's Laser Vision Center offers the corneal refractive surgical procedure known as PRK or Photorefractive Keratectomy. The PRK procedure uses the laser to remove a small disc-shaped sliver of the central cornea. PRK, one of two FDA approved refractive surgery procedures, is currently the only procedure offered under the Navy program. LASIK or Laser In-situ Keratomileusis, will not be offered until further studies being conducted in the military adequately establish its safety in the operational environment.

Members requesting PRK will be screened by an optometrist or ophthalmologist to determine if they are clinically eligible for the surgery. If clinically suitable, the member's unit commander must endorse the request and determine the member's priority level. Once a command-endorsed request is received, the NNMC Laser Vision Center staff will review requests for final determination of clinical appropriateness and priority.

The most time-consuming aspects of the process are presurgical evaluations and postsurgical follow-up care. NNMC's new center has four specially equipped examination rooms to perform the pre-and post-operative visits. The center has three refractive-surgery trained technicians and one optometrist to perform initial screening exams and counseling. There are currently nine doctors on staff at the center who will perform the laser procedure.

According to CDR Joe Pasternak, director of the center, the NNMC Laser Vision Center becomes one of only three such centers available for corneal refractive surgery under the Navy program. He projected that with the new state-of-the-art equipment and available staff, the center will be able to offer the procedure to approximately 80 Sailors and Marines per month.

In addition to the new center at NNMC, laser surgery is currently available at the naval medical centers in San Diego and Portsmouth, Va. More detailed descriptions about the priority groups, as well as sample forms and letters used to request the surgery, are available on the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery web site at http:// navymedicine.med.navy.mil. Just scroll down to the link for "corrective eye surgery information."