Ring out the old, ring in the news

Wikipaedia defines Ephemerality (from Greek εφήμερος – ephemeros, literally "lasting only one day"[) as the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. The term ephemeral is frequently used to describe objects found in nature, although it can describe a wide range of things, including human artifacts intentionally made to last for only a temporary period. Ephemeral can also be used as an adjective to refer to a fast-deteriorating importance or temporary nature of an object to a person. William Dean Howells (March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, particularly known for his tenure as editor of The Atlantic Monthly as well as his own prolific writings, including the Christmas story Christmas Every Day, and the novels The Rise of Silas Lapham and A Traveler from Altruria. His work can be read in The Complete Works of William Dean Howells which includes the following musing: “…I am impatient of the antiquated and ignorant prejudice which classes the magazines as ephemeral. They are ephemeral in form, but in substance they are not ephemeral…” This was written long before the development of the internet which has completely transformed the nature of magazine publishing. While many of the readers of EuroTimes may keep the printed magazine in their offices for months, even years, they will eventually have to free up space and reluctantly dispose of their back issues. And one day, they may regret this act when a colleague says: “Did you read the article in EuroTimes which talks about the downturn in LASIK procedures?”. The answer is no because that issue of the magazine has been binned. But there is redemption. Howard Larkin’s article in December/January EuroTimes points out that global LASIK volume peaked at about 3.8 million procedures in 2007, and has struggled to break 3.6 million since. In the USA, volume peaked at 1.4 million procedures in 2000, and has bumped along 
around 600,000 for the last five years, according to Market Scope data presented by Richard L Lindstrom MD at the 2016 ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress in New Orleans, USA. “We are in a no-growth market globally and in the USA. The question is, why is that?” asked Dr Lindstrom, founder of Minnesota Eye Consultants in Bloomington, Minnesota, USA. To find out the answer to this question you can read the latest issue of EuroTimes but you can also go online and find the article at http://www.eurotimes.org/lasik-growth. But you want to research further, so you can then another article from November EuroTimes http://www.eurotimes.org/lasik-studies, which is also written by Howard Larkin. And the more you surf www.eurotimes.org , the more you will learn about LASIK and patient satisfaction. Another year is almost over and a new one will soon begin and I wish all of our readers a happy and successful 2017. * Colin Kerr is Executive Editor of EuroTimes, the award-winning news magazine of the ESCRS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm6TsYypBpY