title: Healthcare and a holiday: the risks of LASIK tourism.
abstract: Medical tourism is the practice of travelling overseas for surgery. We describe a patient with low myopia who underwent laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) while on holiday in India. She presented to local hospital eye services six weeks post-LASIK with discomfort and reduced vision. She reported three previous LASIK flap lifts in the right eye. Clinical assessment, optical coherence tomography and confocal microscopy demonstrated moderate epithelial ingrowth and reduced visual acuity. Epithelial ingrowth after LASIK may be associated with visual impairment and management is determined by location, magnitude and effect on vision. LASIK tourism may mean patients are less well-informed of risks and lose continuity of professional care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, New Zealand National Eye Centre, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lockington
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Dipika V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Charles N J
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: McGhee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006693:Holidays; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D020731:Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ / Q000379:methods*; D009216:Myopia / Q000601:surgery*; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
keywords: LASIK; OCT; epithelial ingrowth; in vivo confocal microscopy; medical tourism