In a span of about three seconds, Kathleen Oakley noticed her vision improving, but she didn’t feel anything happening to her eye.
Oakley, a Chicagoan, recently underwent a procedure known as LTK at the Chicago Cornea Consultants office in Hoffman Estates.
The procedure uses a laser to reduce hyperopia, or farsightedness. Unlike some other laser procedures no incisions are needed.
“You feel nothing,” said Oakley, who had been using glasses to read since she was in high school. “There is no pain.”
Oakley is one of small group of people who have undergone LTK treatment in Illinois. In October, Chicago Cornea Consultants became the first eye-care provider in the state to offer the procedure.
Now competitors offer the service as well. Jim Feinstein, director of marketing for Chicago Cornea Consultants, said he expects the number will continue to grow.
“We were the first; another one or two have popped up,” Feinstein said. “There will probably be 50 in the next month or so.”
LTK, laser thermal keratoplasty, has been approved for people with mild hyperopia, particularly people in their 40s who are just starting to need vision correction. But Feinstein said approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected eventually for more serious cases of hyperopia and astigmatism.
“We’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg as far as the number of actual treatments,” he said. “I think in the next 12 to 18 months it will grow a lot.”
Feinstein said the general safety of the procedure will make it popular.
Nevertheless, he noted that as with any vision-correction operation, there are risks. Possible side effects of LTK include light sensitivity, some irritation or the sensation that there is a foreign body in the eye. If those occur, Feinstein said they tend to be temporary.
“The combination of not cutting and treating outside of the optical zone makes it very safe,” he said.
The procedure costs about $2,000 per eye.
Chicago Cornea Consultants tries keeps up with new technology, so it made sense to break some ground with LTK, Feinstein said.
The company has been in business since 1986 and has three locations, including Highland Park and Chicago.
Most of the company’s work includes cornea transplantation, cataract surgery and laser vision correction.
“We don’t deal in primary eye care. We are a cornea specialty practice,” Feinstein said.
Jan Beiting, director of communications for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, said the demand for businesses like Chicago Cornea Consultants is expected to grow.
Beiting said that of 130 million people who need vision correction, only about 2 percent to 3 percent have used a procedure such as LASIK or LTK.
There’s room for growth, but the popularity of LASIK, or laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis , has increased dramatically, with the number of operations performed doubling from 1997 to 1998. The number doubled again the next year, with a total of about 435,000 operations in 1999, Beiting said.
“LTK definitely has some advantages for certain patients,” Beiting said.
And it’s just a matter of time before more people find out about it. Oakley said she’s telling all her friends about the procedure.
“It is phenomenal,” she said.
