Dr. Swinger’s qualifications and credentials as one of the top LASIK surgeons include:

Experience

• 1 of 10 investigators in the USA for the VISX laser FDA trials
• Over 17 years experience in laser vision surgery, including LASIK
• Performed first refractive surgery (vision correction) in the U.S.
• Performed the first LASIK-like surgery in the U.S.
• Over 30 years experience in refractive surgery (laser vision, lens implants and RK)
• Organized and directed the first courses in vision correction in the U.S. and abroad.
• Performed over 2,000 LASIK and laser vision procedures
• First to introduce laser vision correction in New York in 1991 at The Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital
• Founder and Medical Director of Novatec Laser Systems, the first laser company in the world to develop the modern laser vision correction methods in use today---computer-directed, small scanning laser beam which markedly reduces trauma to the eye, active eye tracking for patient safety, bladeless/all-laser LASIK and customized ablation/vision correction
• Medical Director for 3 FDA studies (Novatec Laser Systems)
• Co-Principal FDA Investigator for the first two U.S. FDA studies for correction of myopia for the laser manufacturer VISX.
• First U.S. Surgeon to lecture widely around the world and promote vision correction surgery, including giving over 300 lectures and teaching surgery in more than 30 countries across the globe.
• Performed the first refractive surgery in the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region and the first lamellar surgery for myopia in Europe
• Has trained refractive surgery fellows from 3 continent

Premier Patient Care

• Use of Intralase system for “All-Laser” or “Bladeless” LASIK
• Use of Wavefront Based (“Custom”) LASIK and PRK
• Use of iLASIK Procedure- WaveScan Technology, Intralase, and Visx Advanced CustomVue treatments
• Offers complete refractive surgery care, including LASIK, PRK, RLE/CLE, CK (Conductive Keratoplasty), Phakic Implants, Limbal Relaxing Incisions, and cataract and multifocal lens implants procedures
• Management of complications of surgery for new patients who had problems from a LASIK or other vision correction procedure performed by another doctor
• Other eye surgeons, optometrists, opticians, employees of companies that specialize in refractive surgery instrumentation or their family members have had their LASIK and other refractive surgeries performed by Dr. Swinger

Professional Credentials

• Certified by American Board of Ophthalmology
• Member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO)
  • Honored with a uniquely created, one-time Presidential Recognition Award (highest award in ISRS-AAO/refractive surgery), November 2007
  • Honored Barraquer Lecturer
  • Recipient of the Honor Award for his numerous scientific presentations Recipient of the Senior Honor Award for his numerous scientific presentations
• Co-Founder, Past President and lifetime member of the International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS), the first and largest global society devoted to refractive surgery
  • Past scientific program chairman
  • Founder’s Award
  • Barraquer Award
• Former member of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
• Former member, American College of Surgeons
• Current Faculty Appointments
• International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS)
  • Co-founder and past President (ISRS is the first global society devoted to refractive surgery)
  • Founder’s Award
• Faculty Appointments:
  • Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons
  • The Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital
  • The New York Eye & Ear Infirmiry in New York City
• Past Faculty Appointments:
  • Director of Refractive Surgery, The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary
  • Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York City
  • Assistant Director of Ophthalmology, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York City Assistant
  • Professor of Ophthalmology, SUNY Downstate Medical School, Brooklyn, New York
• Helped found the Journal of Refractive Surgery
• Founding editorial board member of 2 other journal editorial boards on refractive surgery
• Published more than 30 book chapters on vision correction surgery
  • Published the first book chapter on vision correction surgery in the United States
• Published over 100 articles in a peer-reviewed scientific journal on refractive surgery
  • Published the first article on vision correction surgery in the United States

Education/Training

• BS degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL
• Experienced as an aerospace electrical engineer and worked on the guidance system calibration package for NASA’s first space vehicle, the Atlas, used for its first space shots (Please click here for more)
• Graduate program in molecular biology, University of California, San Diego
• Medical Degree: University of California, San Diego Medical School, M.D.
• Residency: The Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital
  • Ophthalmic Surgery
• Internship(s): The New York Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute
• Fellowship: The Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, New York City
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship in Corneal and Refractive Surgery with pioneer Richard C. Troutman, M.D.

Pioneering Accomplishments, Honors & Additional Career Highlights

• Included on Best Doctor lists for local, regional, national charities
• “America’s Top Ophthalmologists”, 2005
• First ophthalmologist in the world to develop a laser and demonstrate customized ablation (unique laser treatment for the individual eye)
• First eye surgeon in the world to develop and perform surgery with a small spot computer-directed scanning laser and active eye tracker. The Swinger method is used by most laser manufacturers in the world and is by far the most common laser method used globally
• Only ophthalmologist in the world to have invented/developed three instruments used in the LASIK procedure, a microkeratome, an ultraviolet laser (the world’s only clinical alternative to the excimer laser being used in the world), and the femtosecond bladeless LASIK laser
• Invented and patented non-freeze lamellar refractive surgery and co-developed the Barraquer-Krumeich-Swinger device and microkeratome
• Invented and patented the femtosecond laser for corneal transplantation and a laser microkeratome (bladeless/all-laser LASIK)
• Chairman, SBIR committee for the National Eye Institute
• Board member and fund raiser for the Microsurgical Research Foundation which supports a postgraduate fellow for advanced training in refractive surgery
• Included, along with only 10 other refractive surgeons in the world, in the book "Refractive Surgery with the Masters"
• Funded by the National Eye Institute for 12 years to conduct basic research on refractive surgery
• Dr. Swinger has made many trips to other countries to teach and help setup vision correction centers, including 8 centers in China alone
• He has volunteered for Project Orbis to teach new methods and/or perform surgery aboard its teaching eye surgical suite on its jet plane to countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan

Bio

Dr. Casimir Swinger, the USA’s first dedicated refractive surgeon, is an internationally renowned pioneer in refractive surgery. In addition to the scientific media, his work has also been featured numerous times on radio, TV and in publications such as Time Magazine, New York Magazine, Discover, US, and Science Digest.

Dr. Swinger was born in Chicago, IL and received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering when the space race was in its infancy. He began his career by working under a confidentiality clearance on the guidance system calibration team for NASA’s first two space vehicles, the Atlas and the Centaur, which were used in the first sub-orbital and later first orbital flight by John Glenn. He became interested in aerospace medicine and research while in that position and joined the graduate program at the University of California at San Diego/La Jolla working on projects in molecular biology and biophysics. He later attended their medical school, receiving his MD in 1973. As a senior medical student, he won a scholarship to study and do research for three months in the Middle East. This whetted his appetite for travel and he has traveled in over 75 countries. He did his medical internship at Cornell Cooperating Hospitals in New York and did his ophthalmology residency at The Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in New York, followed by a fellowship with world pioneer Richard C. Troutman, who developed and was one of the first surgeons in the world to perform microsurgery of the eye. During the first month of his fellowship, in July, 1977, he went to Bogota, Colombia to take Jose Barraquer’s first world course on refractive surgery and he spent an additional month studying with the master surgeon who developed these techniques, which were extremely complicated.

In October, 1977, Drs. Swinger and Troutman performed the first Barraquer refractive surgery in the U.S. and in 1978 Dr. Swinger was the first surgeon to perform such surgery for nearsightedness/myopia. Also in 1977, Drs. Swinger and Troutman decided to form an international network of interested surgeons who could collaborate in developing and refining these complicated techniques. It was incorporated in 1979 as the International Society of Refractive Keratoplasty (now ISRS/AAO, as it has merged with the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The interesting details of the 30-year history of this surgery has recently been published in a book and is available at http://www.aao.org/isrs/about/book.cfm.) That same year he began his academic career by joining the faculty of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. In 1979 he organized the first course in the world outside of Colombia. In 1977 he envisioned a simpler way to perform such surgery and in 1985 published and had marketed his new device that avoided freeze damage to the eye. However, he realized that the ultimate tool for such surgery would be a very sophisticated laser. Although the excimer laser had been introduced and he was an FDA investigator for the laser company VISX, performing the first laser vision correction in New York in 1991, he saw that another radical approach had a much greater potential, so he founded a laser company, Novatec Laser Systems, in California, to develop the Swinger methods that are now used by surgeons around the world, including the invention of two lasers, one a replacement for the excimer laser and the other a femtosecond laser for bladeless, all-laser LASIK.

Prior to his presidency of the ISRS in 1986, Dr. Swinger helped found the Journal of Refractive Surgery. . He has attended and lectured at over 300 meetings on refractive surgery and lectured and taught surgery in more than 30 countries, helping spread these revolutionary new techniques that have since aided millions of people across the globe.

Cas Swinger, the "refractive surgeon’s" surgeon, is an internationally renowned pioneer in refractive surgery. In addition to the scientific media, his work has also been featured numerous times on radio, TV and in publications such as Time Magazine, New York Magazine, Discover, US, and Science Digest.

Having performed thousands of refractive surgery operations during the past 20 years, Dr. Swinger’s goal is surgical success and patient satisfaction. Dr. Swinger is on the faculties of the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital and The New York Eye & Ear Infirmary in New York City.

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