LASIK can beat the recesssion

The UK market for laser eye surgery should bounce back in the next few years, according to Tony Veverka, chief executive of Ultralase. During a presentation at the United Kingdom and Ireland Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (UKISCRS) XXXV Congress, Mr Veverka discussed the commercial reality of the laser surgery market and how it has been affected by the recession

Looking at the UK market, he said it grew from approximately 80,000 patients in 2004 to just fewer than 140,000 at its peak in 2007. During that time it was a very consolidated market dominated by three big players.

However, 2008 saw a major drop off in the market following the recession, with those opting for laser eye surgery decreasing to approximately 110,000 customers, and further declining in the last two years to an estimated 95,000-100,000 this year.

“There is a real correlation between consumer confidence and consumer appetite to spend, particularly on relatively big ticket items and volumes in our industry,†he said, acknowledging that it has been a challenging few years.

Despite the recession, Mr Veverka was optimistic about the future of elective laser surgery in the UK market, given the cyclical nature of the market. Discussing the public’s perception of the risk involved in laser eye surgery, he said there was confusion over the difference between risk and fear.

“Fear is a basic emotion which is really disproportionate to the risk. For example, parents are generally more afraid of child abduction than they are of child obesity, yet obesity statically has a far greater effect to well-being. People are also much more afraid of flying than driving, despite driving having a greater risk. So when consumers think of laser eye surgery they hugely overplay the risk because of those factors. The risks are actually very small but the impact of the fear is great [on business] and we as an industry need to attack that issue as best we can,†Mr Veverka maintained.

Comparing laser eye surgery to a lottery, he said it was similar in that the chances of a win/complication were very small but the public overplayed their chances of winning/something going wrong. “It’s the opposite of the lottery logo ‘it could be you’†really,†said Mr Veverka who also said that the industry as a whole must continue to reassure patients.

He said potential market penetration rates in the UK's general population for laser surgery are “fairly modest†at about four per cent, approximately 1.3 million people, “so there is plenty of runwayâ€.

“There is also a growing acceptance of laser surgery, from the medical community, the optical community in general and consumers. The scare stories and the horrible websites about difficult experiences are much less, and dwarfed in comparison good news stories from successfully treated patients. We do good work, and we often forget that. We transform people’s lives for the better through enhancing their vision. We should be proud to work in this industry,†he commented.

Mr Veverka concluded that while the public overplays the risks of laser eye surgery, LASIK comes out much better than other elective procedures with strong satisfaction ratings. This coupled with the cyclical nature of the market means that it is here to stay and the UK will see market expansion again in the coming years.