BRANDED CONTENT Drew Dickson, MD, PCEO, is a rare gem. And in Iowa, he’s peerless—the only World College of Refractive Surgery and Visual Sciences (WCRS)-certified vision correction specialist in the state. “The WCRS Fellowship isn’t something you pursue because it’s required,” Dickson s ays. “You pursue it because you want to be at the absolute frontier of what’s possible for your patients and provide them with the best outcomes possible.” Dickson’s dedication to providing exceptional care began early, when he chose supplemental training in his field of medicine. In addition to four years of college, four years of medical school, and four years of ophthalmology residency, he was chosen for a year-long fellowship in refractive/vision correction surgery. “What I don’t think people tend to appreciate is how consuming and cumulative that path is,” he says. “It’s not just time—it’s the volume of patients you see, the complexity of cases you’re exposed to, and the fact that by the time you finish, you’ve been deliberately trained to assess and treat every situation imaginable.” Dickson’s education, experience, and exposure to vision conditions of every shape and size is a huge factor in what makes him an exceptional provider. But there’s more: The Golden Rule is the foundation of Dickson’s patient care. “Treat others the way you want to be treated sounds simple, but I think about it constantly in clinical practice — especially in elective surgery,” Dickson says. “If this were my family member on the operating table, what would I want? If I were the patient, how would I want to be spoken to, evaluated, and counseled?” Dickson explains that he not only has been the patient who elected to have refractive surgery but also has performed refractive surgery on family members. “I try to envision every patient as if they were my family member. The Golden Rule isn’t a platitude for me. It’s an operating principle.” “Most people think of ‘training’ as a few years of school to learn how to perform a procedure. I’ve had a decade-plus of training to build clinical judgment, not just technical skill.” —Drew Dickson, MD, PCEO A big part of treating others as you want to be treated, Dickson says, is also saying ‘no’ when surgery is not the best path for a patient. “The art of medicine is not just knowing how to perform certain procedures,” he says. “It’s how to say ‘no’ to doing procedures if patients aren’t good candidates, and if they are candidates for vision correction, selecting the best procedure.” And that’s exactly what Dickson’s training allows him to do. “A refractive surgeon understands the nuanced decision-making about which procedure is right for which patient and why,” he says. Sometimes, the best procedure for a patient is LASIK, which other surgeons offer. For other patients, a different surgical procedure is the answer. “Often times a LASIK surgeon can force patients into doing LASIK just because they don’t have a different tool to fix a problem. A refractive surgeon has an entire toolbox of ways to fix a vision problem,” Dickson says. “Getting that decision right requires training and judgment that goes well beyond learning how to operate a laser.” A refractive surgeon’s vison-correction toolbox includes corneal-based procedures like LASIK, PRK, and SMILE, but also lens-based approaches like EVO ICL implantation and refractive lens exchange (RLE). Modern Vision Centers offers that entire toolbox of surgical vision correction, meaning that patients receive the most advanced diagnostics followed by accurate results thanks to state-of-the-art technology. And Dickson’s training is responsible for patients’ unparalleled care and outstanding outcomes. “Many surgeons finish residency and begin practicing right away,” Dickson says. “I wanted deeper exposure to complex cases and the kind of nuanced decision-making that only comes from training under surgeons who live and breathe refractive surgery,” he explains. “I was serious about mastering my craft, not just performing a minimum number of cases to check a box to graduate. I wanted to know I had done all I could to provide the best outcomes and take the best care of my patients possible.” > CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MODERN VISION CENTERS 6880 EP True Pkwy Suite 110 | West Des Moines, IA | www.mvcvision.com ...read more read less