UofL Health – Medical Center East is now home to a new Laser Eye Center, scheduled to open later this week.
A group of 29 area ophthalmologists donated both an excimer and a femtosecond laser to UofL Health. The lasers will be used by both employed and independent ophthalmologists to perform refractive surgeries including LASIK and PRK procedures to treat nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism along with other disorders of the eye.
The new Laser Eye Center at Medical Center East will also be the site for the training of residents from the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at both the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.
Begun in 2018, the UofL Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences is one of only three programs in the United States supported by Johnson & Johnson Vision in which residents are trained to perform LASIK and PRK procedures during their residency training. Physicians in the laser center train the residents to perform these procedures following required didactic and wet lab training by representatives from Johnson & Johnson Vision. Residents perform surgeries under the direction of UofL Physician, Richard Eiferman, M.D., clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of Louisville and Frank Burns, M.D., an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.
Physicians doing the procedures at the Laser Eye Center are among the most experienced and qualified in the region. Dr. Richard Eiferman first used an excimer laser in 1989 when they were still being tested, and he was an early conductor of clinical trials under FDA protocols. Dr. Frank Burns has been performing refractive surgery since 1995 and began performing PRK in 1997 and LASIK in 1999.
Patients can receive information on the center, including scheduling information by calling 502-259-6277 or by visiting uoflhealth.org/laser-eye-center.