Lasik for Technicians Al Lens. Thorofare, NJ: Slack Inc. , 2002. Pages: 144. Price: 24. 00. ISBN 1-55642-550-3. SLACK Incorporated has been a leader in publishing materials about vision care that are directed toward the education and instruction of assistants and technicians. This book ‘LASIK for Technicians‘ is just one more in a series of paperback books that take information about the topic and place it in a format that is clear and understandable. The author, Mr. Al Lens, has authored their book on Optics, Retinoscopy and Refractometry, and was a co-author on Ocular Anatomy and Physiology. This text begins with an overview of refractive errors. It gives a thorough presentation of emmetropia, myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia. Basic information on these refractive errors gets somewhat lost in the description. The assistant or technician reading this material would need a general understanding of refractive errors, prescription, and correction of these errors to get a good comprehension of the material. The chapter on refractive surgery techniques goes into detail about the procedures and how they are performed. Risks and adverse effects were described for each of the procedures. These were presented in a direct manner, without making any comparison between or selection of one technique over the other. It was nice to have a review of the older procedures as well as information about the newer techniques that are used more frequently today. The strength of this book is in the information presented on informed consent, practice management and marketing. The author shows a great depth of knowledge of the information and the detail that is necessary in these areas to have a successful outcome for the patient and the practice. I would recommend this book for assistants and technicians who are in a practice that performs refractive surgery or a primary care practice that refers patients for refractive surgery. While additional information on refractive errors may be helpful, this text gives the ancillary staff more than enough information to begin to understand their role in patient care and refractive surgery.
Mary Jameson (Thu,) studied this question.