Patient Motivations For Cataract And Refractive Surgery

To evaluate patient motivation for cataract and refractive surgery and assess the alignment between virtual optometrist recommended procedures and final surgeon recommendations.

Optegra Eye Health Care, UK

A retrospective audit was conducted for patients attending a 30-minute optometric virtual consultation (during 2024) for cataract or refractive surgery. The consultation comprised either a telephone or video call and enables up to 10,000 appointments to be offered per annum. Patient motivations and surgical recommendations were analysed. The study included data on patient preferences, clinician virtual assessments, and final surgeon recommendations.

Preliminary analysis showed that ‘freedom from glasses’ was the primary motivation cited by 54%, with freedom from contact lenses accounting for 24%. 36% of patients proceeded to have presbyopic IOL surgery, 32% elected to have LASIK, 18% SMILE and 5% elected to have ICL or LASEK. In general and where patients were recommended LVC or ICL, decision making at the virtual optometrist consultation and final surgeon assessment was closely aligned. Alignment was less consistent between virtual optometrist and surgeon consultations for IOL type with surgeons more inclined to offer a presbyopic IOL solution versus a monofocal. 

This audit evaluates factors influencing patient motivation for refractive surgery procedures and provides insights into the outcomes and decision-making alignment between virtual optometrists and surgeons. Occasional discrepancies between virtual assessments and final surgeon recommendations highlight the complexity of surgical decision-making in some refractive procedures. The current findings serve as a preliminary exploration and foundation for larger-scale evaluation.