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Biotech / Medical : SNRS- Sunrise Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mack Earnhardt who wrote (134)	11/4/1997 10:54:00 AM
From: Nanny	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4140

Mack, I'm sorry I have not responded sooner but I wanted to check with the experts before I responded. I thought that after I read your post, the PRK vs LTK needed clarification. True, Sunrise's product is targeted at a different patient group than the Excimer---"nearsighted" (technically myopia), and you were not a candidate for the Sun 1000, which treats "farsighted" people which is hyperopia (not presbyopia as you mentioned), and another condition for people who need reading glasses (presbyopia). You also stated that "the basic difference is the center of my myopic cornea was curved out too much, and the other conditions are from not curving out enough. PRK removes tissue from the middle, which the Sand process (SNRS) uses heat to shrink tissue around the edges to give the middle some life". This is true. This next part is true.....but not the point that Dr. Aker was trying to make: "The point of all this is that it's not a case of Sunrise eating the Excimer's lunch, but actually a vast, unserved market which will pay high rewards to the first successful device manufacturer. Hopefully, that will be Sunrise instead of VISX or BEAM figuring out how to add this treatment to their existing product." This statement is impossible. VISX and BEAM cannot alter their technology to perform the same procedure. Sunrise uses a Holium Laser and they use an Excimer Laser---two totally different procedures. It is scientifically impossible. Those two companies have Excimer Lasers that take tissue away from the cornea, which again is an invasive procedure. They can perform a similar procedure for hyperopia, but...it is a surgery...and has shown to work for awhile and then regress. Basically, what Dr. Aker was trying to say: Sunrise's product is faster, effective, painless, does not require an operating room, is more profitable for the doctor and less expensive for the patient, therefore will be a more patient/doctor friendly procedure than the current refractive surgeries available. The two procedures are not directly comparable, but to a doctor who is looking for supplemental income in this day of Medicare cuts, the easiest and most profitable way to make a patient happy is with Sunrise LTK. Doctors can actually lose money with PRK by the time they pay the royalty fee, the facility fee, take time traveling to a laser center, and spending the time doing a more complicated post-op management. Some doctors will choose to perform both LTK and PRK because each has it's own subset of patients. Dr. Aker also stressed that the LTK patients are happier than most PRK patients because hyperopes who have never been able to see distance or near can immediately see better. PRK patients who have always been able to see near but not distance are not as happy at first because you immediately take away their near vision to help them see distance. Eventually these patients will need reading glasses (after 40ish). If this doesn't clear it up, then I'll just go back and ask more questions. Be in touch. Nanny