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Monday, December 10, 2007

LASIK As An Economic Barometer?
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Whenever a news broadcast features stories concerning business and the economy, I tend to zone-out. Who cares? I have a fixed-rate mortgage, college tuitions are (almost) fully paid, and the bank still clears my checks. Let's get on to sports, okay?

Traditionally, the consumer confidence index is represented by conventional datasets like the amount of credit card debt and the rate of late credit payments...Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Wake me up when they roll the NBA highlights!

Now I've learned that eye surgery may have a profound influence on Wall Street, the money markets and the power brokers at the Federal Reserve.

In calculating the monthly consumer confidence level, the Conference Board includes data that tracks the number of vision-correction surgeries performed. It also counts the number of eyelid tucks (blepharoplasties). Who knew?!?

Both of these operations are elective - patients ask to have the surgery. Insurance plans do not cover elective surgery. Individuals who want LASIK or cosmetic surgery pay out of their own pocket, either with cash or a healthy line of credit. So the thinking is that folks who can spend $2000 or more for LASIK must have plenty of discretionary money to spend.

The economists are right! I just returned from the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and there was plenty of dialogue about a downturn in elective, self-pay surgery. According to CareCredit, a company that specializes in consumer lending for elective surgery, there was a nationwide 10% drop in LASIK cases in October 2007 - the steepest single month decline ever recorded. Overall, USA refractive surgery cases are expected to decrease 2.6% (1.38M procedures) compared to 2006.

Maybe I'll start paying more attention to business news. Who cares about the Super Bowl anyway?

REFERENCE: 'Evidence Grows That Consumers Are Pulling Back'. Wall Street Journal 12/08/2007

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Posted by: Dr. Lloyd at 7:27 AM

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