Eye & Laser Surgeons – Excellent care based on solid foundations

Eye & Laser Surgeons is a state-of-the-art ophthalmology practice headed by Drs. Daya and Shanel Sharma. Once they had completed their training overseas, the two doctors came back with a vision; to practice in the best way possible. After considering their options, they realized that the best way to do that would be to set up their very own clinic. This way they could start building on the core ideas that would make up their practice as well as apply whatever techniques they considered best.

Importantly, the doctors were very much involved in the medical community even before that. In fact, Shanel and Daya both worked in the public hospital and private practice setting before the clinic’s doors were opened. What they realized is that different practices have different philosophies. Some practices’ key philosophy was about providing the most affordable price hence expensive pieces of equipment, no matter what they added to the clinical situation, were not acquired as they were not a viable part of that model, even if they resulted in better results.

The philosophy at Eye & Laser Surgeons is to provide the best possible results for each patient. This has resulted in the practice acquiring many state of the art pieces of equipment to do so, even when there is no Medicare rebate.

Patients pay for the access to these latest pieces of technology, as well as the training to interpret these tests, as the data is only as good as the person reading the data. To maximize their ability to utilise and interpret these new pieces of technology, the orthoptists and doctors from Eye & Laser Surgeons have had in-house training as well as having been to numerous local and overseas training seminars and meetings.

Putting the best equipment to good use

At Eye & Laser Surgeons, proper equipment is of utmost importance to the doctors. As they retain full control over their clinics, they have acquired the latest ophthalmic diagnostic equipment including Optos wide field imaging and angiography high resolution 3D spectral domain OCT scanning, anterior segment OCT testing, corneal topography/tomography, optical biometry, Eye Cubed ultrasound imaging, which includes a variety of ultrasound imaging modalities (including high frequency images of the front of the eye, and more. The range of equipment allows them to conduct a very wide selection of tests which in turns enables them to provide the best possible care to their patients.

The process of receiving a treatment at an Eye & Laser Surgeons clinic is extremely thorough and is based on the philosophy that every patient should be treated individually. When a patient comes in for an assessment, there is a detailed process before any treatment options are considered. More specifically, the orthoptist, a university graduate who specialized in assessing patients with eye complaints, conducts a variety of preliminary tests in order to determine the patient’s eye health and specific issues prior to assessment by Dr. Sharma.

To achieve reliable results from these tests, the clinic’s equipment is constantly updated and calibrated and protocols enhanced in order to make sure that data is reliable and ready for interpretation. The acquisition of the complex data, is essential part of the testing process. This allows the doctor to get a full picture of the condition as well as the needs of the patient which is crucial to their work. When a patient is undertaking surgery the different options for surgery are discussed, as different approached are required for different people. In these clinics, these options are discussed in detailed with each patient.

“Part of the assessment process is choosing the right operations for the right patients at the right time. Sometimes that involves not doing any surgery at all”, explains Dr. Daya.

A strong involvement in the medical field

Thankfully, the doctors’ work has been well-received both by the scientific community and their patients. Though there is no formal feedback process right now, recognition for Eye & Laser Surgeons come in other forms. Getting published in peer reviewed journals, receiving invitations to speak at conferences, being welcomed into the advisory boards of companies. All those activities and more speak highly of the work being done at the clinics as the doctors try to conduct their practice in a way that’s safe, effective, and modernized.

To that end, Eye & Laser Surgeons follows every rule, regulation, and industry standard to the letter. Confidentiality, for example, is paramount in the medical industry and extremely important for the doctors. They have zero tolerance for patients being mistreated as their goal and vision is to take care of everyone. To accomplish that on a personal level, they are friendly to the patients and try to make them as comfortable as possible. For some of the patients, coming into the clinic may be a stressful time so the doctors look after them as much as they can.

“Mistakes are made and, for example, the wrong lens may arrive at the clinic. But we work closely with our suppliers. We’ll contact them and tell them that the wrong lens is here and they’ll send us a new one within an hour so we know that everything is in order before you walk into that operating theater”, says Dr. Shanel.

Building a better future for the clinics

Eye & Laser Surgeons already provide a strong selection of treatment options including cataract surgery, corneal transplants, and LASIK surgery. For many of those options, the doctors have actually participated in research projects which have been published in esteemed scientific journals. And though they already offer quite a lot of treatments, they are looking into expanding their services even further. After increasing their office space, they will also be interested in recruiting like-minded individuals based on their expertise, experience, and whether they maintain a similar philosophy on medicinal practices or not. One thing is for certain, however; the doctors will continue to deliver excellent care in the safest way possible to their patients.