In the late 1980s, the two sides fought again when the Legislature changed the law so that optometrists could treat certain eye conditions or diseases, such as glaucoma. Today's issue of contention is over the increasingly popular and lucrative business of laser corrective eye surgery. On May 30, the State Medical Society, representing the state's physicians, and the Wisconsin Academy of Ophthalmology filed a lawsuit against the state Optometry Examining Board for its apparent decision on May 12 that said laser surgery is within the scope of practice for optometrists. The complaint asks the Dane County Circuit Court to overturn the board's action. An attorney for the academy said on May 31 that the academy would file an additional motion seeking an injunction to stop optometrists from performing the laser procedures.
Ophthalmologists are medical doctors.
They are eye surgeons. According to national estimates, as many as 1.7 million Americans this year will undergo some form of outpatient laser surgery to correct their eyesight so that they no longer have to wear glasses or contact lenses. That number is expected to climb as high as 2.7 million by 2001. The laser then reshapes the exposed area and repositions the flap over the reshaped area. PRK also uses a laser to reshape the surface of the cornea to correct a patient's vision.