Annoying foggy glasses contribute to an increase in corrective eye surgery

Annoying foggy glasses contribute to an increase in corrective eye surgery

Transcript¹

Lasik surgery practices are seeing a big increase in clients. People have grown tired of having their glasses fog up every time they put on a mask.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Many know this struggle - foggy glasses because of an ill-fitting face mask, and that's part of the reason laser corrective surgery is up so much in recent months. From member station WBUR in Boston, Simon Rios reports.

SIMON RIOS, BYLINE²: Tom Eighmey teaches math at a prep school near Boston. After his work-from-home period ended in the fall, fogged up glasses in class became a constant nuisance.

TOM EIGHMEY: Between the air coming from the mask and the cold glasses and all that stuff, not only did I fog up when I walked in the building, but then any time I would talk to people for almost the first hour of the day, it was, like, immediate³ fogginess.

RIOS: Eighmey's first instinct was to find a way for the mask and glasses to coexist. He tried several methods, but none of them worked. So Eighmey pulled the trigger and got Lasik, one of several laser corrective procedures available as an alternative to glasses or contact lenses. With Lasik, doctors remove tissue from the cornea to address conditions like nearsightedness or astigmatism⁵. Eighmey says he couldn't be happier with his decision.

EIGHMEY: I was a person who couldn't see a TV without it being fuzzy from, like, 6 feet away. And literally⁶ the next morning, I woke up, could see across the street and see, like, the small number 19 on the house next door. It was just unbelievable. I will not forget that moment.

RIOS: The American Refractive Surgery Council is the trade group that represents Lasik practitioners⁷. The group reports a nearly 20% increase in laser correction procedures from 2019 to 2021. That means it's boom time at Boston Vision.

SAMIR MELKI: You're going to feel some pressure.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: OK.

MELKI: Your vision may dim for about 30, 40 seconds. That's all expected.

RIOS: Dr. Samir Melki prepares his patient, then fires up the laser. Melki says business is up 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels, and foggy glasses are a key reason. Melki also cites people having more time and more money.

MELKI: People are not traveling as much, so they have disposable income that they can spend on procedures such as laser vision correction. Two - recovery time. These patients think that maybe now is a good time to do it because you are recovering at home.

RIOS: But laser surgery isn't for everyone. Thomas Steinemann is an ophthalmologist in Cincinnati and spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He says while the level of risk is acceptable, Lasik might not be forever. Your eyes will continue to change.

THOMAS STEINEMANN: It may not be one and done. I mean, there are some people that require a little touch up or enhancement, and there are even examples of people who lose the effect over time.

RIOS: And pro⁴ tip from Steinemann - he says during eye surgery, he tapes his mask to his nose to prevent foggy lenses. And some people just dig the glasses look. Count among them Sean Painter (ph), a barista in Danvers, Mass. As a cappuccino maker⁹, he doesn't have a lot of long conversations with customers, but as we spoke⁸, his glasses almost entirely¹⁰ fogged over. Painter has considered Lasik, but decided¹¹ against it.

SEAN PAINTER: It's the kind of thing where I haven't, like, had, like, enough sort of, like, hassle with my glasses to really, like, commit to that kind of thing. And, like, I also generally like the way I look in glasses.

RIOS: And, Painter says, there's the fact that Lasik can cost north of $5,000, and it's not covered by most insurance plans. For NPR News, I'm Simon Rios in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF MITIS' "PARTING")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

5 astigmatism   

n.散光，乱视眼

参考例句：

• Maybe you fall asleep in class because of uncorrected astigmatism.也许你在课堂上睡觉是因为你的眼睛散光。
• Astigmatism can occur in addition to nearsightedness and farsightedness.散光可同时发生在近视和远视。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。