In a recent article in Eye World magazine ( http://www.eyeworld.org/aug01/0801p30.html ), Ellen Dean Wilson wrote that although a few giants still dominate the autoclave business, the makers of other sterilizers like the Cox Dry Heat Sterilizers are beginning to see profit in the fear of infections following laser in-situ keratomileusis and other surgeries.

Here are what some Cox users told Eye World magazine.

TLC Laser Center in Garden City, N.Y 516-742-2020 - Juliet Patterson, senior technician has been using the Cox Dry Heat Sterilizer since Nov 1999. She recently told Eye World that her office once used steam sterilization, but has switched to a dry-heat Cox unit. The turnaround time is shorter, and “everything comes out dry,” she said, adding that the 375º F temperature it reaches sterilizes the instruments well. Alfa Medical manufacturers the Cox Rapid Heat Transfer Sterilizer.

Jones Eye Clinic, with offices in Sioux City, Iowa 712-239-3937 - Bob Lund, business administrator at , and two other cities, who has been using the Cox Dry Heat Sterilizer since Nov 1999 likes the “speed and convenience” of its Cox unit; it is on a rolling cart that can be quickly repositioned in another room and doesn’t need a water connection. “It’s a very clean sterilizer,” he said. When wet sterilization was used by the clinic, technicians had to handle water bottles, so it was not as convenient.

The three physicians in the practice primarily perform cataract and LASIK surgery; they have not had any cases of Sands of Sahara (diffuse lamellar keratitis [DLK]), Mr Bob Lund said.