LOUISVILLE, KY (August 10, 2006) – The American Eye Institute and John-Kenyon Eye Center today announced the successful merger of their independent eye care practices. The new practice, called John-Kenyon American Eye Institute, will provide cataract, macular degeneration and corneal care, plus a wide range of refractive surgery options and treatments for most eye conditions. It is also the only practice in the region to offer IntraLase laser technology, which makes traditional LASIK far safer by eliminating the need for a blade during the procedure.

“We’ve built our practice around our patients, striving to offer them the best possible quality of care,” said Britt Brockman, M.D., one of American Eye Institute’s physicians. “By merging with John-Kenyon, we can better deliver our promise of unsurpassed care to our patients, because our combined practice will have even greater resources in both technology and expertise. The merger made sense for both practices for this reason.”

The IntraLase method of bladeless LASIK sets the practice apart in the region – it is the most advanced and highly sophisticated laser vision correction technology available anywhere. Numerous studies have demonstrated that bladeless laser vision correction, sometimes called IntraLASIK, allows for faster visual recovery and better results with more patients achieving 20/20 vision or better.

“With our commitment to top quality eye care, we just could not continue performing traditional LASIK procedures when such a tremendous leap forward in technology had been made,” said John-Kenyon’s Asim R. Piracha, M.D. “In fact, we feel that with the already demonstrated superior results from this IntraLase blade-free technology, all other existing LASIK methods will become obsolete in the near future.”

The new practice brings together the skills of five skilled and nationally-recognized surgeons: Brockman, Piracha, Timothy E. Schmitt, M.D., Maurice E. John, M.D. and Howard S. Lazarus, M.D. The practice also will include optometrists Steven S. Wilson, O.D., Larry J. Alexander, O.D., and Randall L. Noblitt, O.D.

Each of these physicians is a specialist in a specific area of eye medicine, allowing the John-Kenyon American Eye Institute to offer patients treatment and care in all areas of ophthalmology including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, general ophthalmology and routine eye exams, as well as refractive surgery, cataracts, corneal disease and macular degeneration.

ABOUT JOHN-KENYON AMERICAN EYE INSTITUTE

John-Kenyon American Eye Institute has consulting and surgical facilities in Louisville, Ky., as well as New Albany and Jeffersonville, Ind., and numerous satellite offices in both Kentucky and Indiana. The founding physicians of both practices introduced LASIK to Kentuckiana. As a group, the surgeons of John-Kenyon American Eye Institute have performed more than 80,000 procedures.

Contact:
Shawna Monihon
(812) 948-0616