A LEADING eye surgeon is calling for tougher regulations to stop laser eye clinics using cut-price deals to persuade patients to undergo surgery.
Hull eye surgeon Milind Pande says people are being lured by special offers before the risks of surgery are explained properly.
A Which? investigation discovered organisations were failing to explain the risks of laser eye surgery while employing high pressure sales techniques to persuade patients to have the treatment.
Mr Pande, who has more than 30 years of clinical experience across three continents and is regarded as a leader in the field of ophthalmology, said: "Patients should be made fully aware of the potential risks, benefits, alternative treatment options and potential complications so they can make a reasoned, informed decision about laser eye surgery.
"Surgeons have a duty of care to patients and when clinics sell promotional packages and reduced price treatments, it effectively changes its role to that of a seller and customer rather than a surgeon and patient, which is completely wrong."
Mr Pande, medical director of the Vision Surgery and Research Centre in Hull, said regulation was crucial to protect patient safety.
"Currently, anyone who is a doctor can legally perform laser eye surgery," he said. "The bulk of laser eye surgery in this country is carried out in high street clinics by surgeons travelling from clinic to clinic and almost all the pre-surgery consultations and assessments being carried out by other staff.
"Patients can barely get any time with the surgeon before surgery and may never see the surgeon again after."
He said patients should be given the chance to ask detailed questions of the surgeon carrying out the treatment.
"Patients have to be able to trust the surgeon and have complete confidence in their surgeon," he said.
"It is impossible to develop this without an expert consultation with the surgeon."
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