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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Harpo who wrote (5169)	8/23/1999 10:01:00 PM
From: Percival 917	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 54805

OK Harpo and Thread, Here are my comments on VISX, Pro and Con. I am not going to go into the technical end as StockHawk is doing fine. I debated the issue of investing in VISX and chose not to because of a conflict of interest with myself. From the investment side I knew it would be good but my professional side has a problem with royalty issue. It's not enough that Visix and the others get a fortune for the laser but the royalties from the investor standpoint is gravy but from the professional side is salt into the wound. The royalties which are $250 per eye, is what is really jacking the cost of the surgery so high that many cannot afford it. I decided to find other investments and stay on the sidelines with this one. As far as the procedure goes Lasik is IMHO the only way to go. It is the least invasive and it is the only one approved for patients with very high myopic corrections. The others are not. There are risks involved: (1) The doctor has to be very skilled using the microkeratome which is the instrument which cuts the corneal flap. (2) After the procedure is done there is a chance of striae developing in corneas (folds due to the cornea not being completely smoothed out) which can lead to VA reduction. Generally you have to go back and refloat the cap and reseal to remove the folds. (3) There is also a risk that the epithelium (outermost layer of the cornea) may grow under the cap which is a more serious problem to fix. All 3 can lead to a certain reduction of overall vision. This may answer your query, Harpo. IMHO the market for Laser Surgery of any kind is not quite as big as you might think. Most candidates are going to fall between 20 and 40. (1) There is NO market under 20 by FDA mandate. (2) The over 40 market has to consider presbyopia which is the loss of focusing ability at near. To give a few examples of why over 40 is a problem: (a) a moderately nearsighted person who has problems reading learns very quickly to simply remove his glasses. He has the surgery and great he can see well at a distance, but now the near vision is reduced so he now has to put on reading glasses to see--What has he gained but a trade off. (b) an extremely nearsighted individual who is already wearing bifocals can now see well at a distance but still has to use reading glasses--Some will opt for the surgery some won't. (3) Patients 60 and above have other considerations like cataracts, macular degeneration, etc., so this is basically NO market. (4)Of the main market, many will not let you within 10 miles of their eyes with a laser; others have mild refractive errors who would be ludicrous having the surgery; there is NO guarantee of 20/20 vision after the procedure is complete and often has to be "touched up". Sorry I got so long winded but I wanted to cover as many areas of consideration as I could. I welcome any responses or questions if I have not made any part clear.