Part 1 - 1

Part 1

Integrated writing

chapter 1

Organizing Information

01 Medical Science

Now listen to a lecture related to the topic in Step 1. Fill in the blanks of the note diagram below with keywords or key phrases used in the lecture.

M: Now, the book also addressed laser vision correction surgery, right? Let’s talk about this part because, well, I don’t feel that the book was entirely accurate in this area. So I want to correct some misunderstandings you may have about laser vision correction surgery.

First off, I’ve got good news for anyone who wants to undergo laser vision correction surgery. In general, the cost for the procedure is decreasing.

One expert that I know said that laser vision correction surgery on average has decreased by thirty percent in recent years.

The procedure is still going to cost some money, but not nearly as much as it used to.

This is because of two factors. First, the costs for basic equipment are lowering because technology is becoming more available.

Also, there are more laser eye surgeons out there, so the competition is rising. Now doctors are being forced to compete in order to get patients, and more competition almost inevitably results in lower prices.

The book also made it sound like there were all of these post-operative issues and problems, right?

Now this was just ridiculous. There are only a few known cases where someone’s cornea became, you know, detached, and guess what they were doing?

Really extreme stuff − for instance, one guy was climbing Mt. Everest when his cornea became detached: apparently, the high altitude created a pressure difference or something.

Oh, and as for the healing time, well, you can’t tell how someone is going to heal, but still, average healing time really isn’t that long − two or three days, at most.

The post-operative concerns really aren’t greater than any other surgical procedure.

Finally, the book’s last point was the length of time that the corrective procedure was effective for.

It’s extremely uncommon for people to have to go back in just months or even years after their surgery.

In fact, we have a number of cases where the corrective procedure has lasted over twenty years, so it’s not really fair for the book to claim that the procedure is only good for a limited time since there’s lots of evidence that suggests otherwise.

So on all three points, the book was pretty much unclear or just plain inaccurate. The equipment’s already pretty inexpensive, and it’s just getting cheaper, post-operative problems really aren’t that big of a deal and it looks like the procedure will last for several years after surgery.

I personally think we’ll be seeing the laser vision correction surgery become a lot more popular in the next few years.