When Dr Sonia Moorthy decided to pivot her Sunshine Coast practice towards laser refractive surgery, she became the only ophthalmologist in Queensland offering blended laser vision correction to presbyopic patients on the ZEISS platform – and she hasn’t looked back.
Queensland has long been known as “the land of refractive lens exchange” – a market dominated by intraocular lens procedures rather than laser correction. So when I invested in the complete ZEISS refractive platform 12 months ago – Presbyond – for the correction of presbyopia, and SMILEPro for near/far sightedness and astigmatism – colleagues might reasonably have raised an eyebrow. But having spent years delivering eye care to communities in Far North and Central Queensland, I understood something about what regional patients actually need.
People are coming from Brisbane and even northern New South Wales for Presbyond. It has changed the landscape here.
There can be a perception that eye care in regional Australia lags behind what’s available in the cities. I’d push back on that.
Regional Care Reimagined
The appeal is in the simplicity of the process and outcome. Both eyes are corrected in a single procedure that takes only 30 minutes, and unlike intraocular lenses, patients don’t experience the visual disturbances – haloes or starbursts – that can accompany lens-based solutions. For patients in regional areas, where a long drive to an appointment is simply part of life, the recovery period matters just as much. Patients are reading their watches, magazines, phones, and computer screens 24 hours after surgery. For someone travelling from Gympie, being back behind the wheel within two or three days of surgery makes a significant difference.
That said, I am precise about patient selection. Presbyond works by adjusting the dominant eye to distance and the non-dominant eye to near, with both retaining intermediate vision – meaning the brain must learn to use the eyes together to adapt to the new blended vision. Younger patients usually adapt more quickly, but motivation is critical at any age. The ocular surface of both eyes must be optimised before surgery, and I need to know a patient is genuinely committed to the process of neuroadaptation.
Technology Beyond the Consult Room
To support that process, I’ve developed a suite of artificial intelligence applications that help patients understand what to expect, as well as exercises they can work through that are designed to speed adaptation. The same thinking has reshaped how my small team manages the practice day-to-day. I have Amelia – my virtual assistant – who handles calls and daily enquiries, and avatars that counsel patients on procedures in 30 languages. It reduces chair time considerably. Rather than explaining procedures from scratch, I can use appointments to address whatever specific concerns a patient has.
I am also performing immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery with guidelines adopted from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in the United Kingdom – operating on both eyes in a single session rather than the traditional staged approach. Again, the logic is rooted in patient experience: one episode of neuroadaptation rather than two, and a particular convenience for those travelling from regional areas.
Preparation of the ocular surface is central to my approach for any refractive or cataract procedure, and doubly so when both eyes are involved simultaneously. I recommend topical ciclosporin and routinely use intense pulsed light – twice post-surgery for most patients, combined with meibomian gland expression, and prior to surgery when indicated.
Building Regional Expertise
My path to this point has been anything but conventional. I completed my medical degree at the University of Dundee before pursuing a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Melbourne. Ophthalmic training followed at the Sydney Eye Hospital, then fellowships in paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at both the Singapore National Eye Centre and Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. I formalised my refractive skills at the Nethradhama Super Speciality Eye Hospital in India with Professor Sri Ganesh who developed SMILEPro, Forefront and Therapeutic Laser Refractive Courses; at the London Vision Clinic with Professor Dan Reinstein who developed Presbyond and SMILEPro; and I completed a Diploma in Refractive Corneal and Lens Surgery in 2025 with Professor Jorge Alio, a global authority on refractive surgery in Spain.
That breadth of experience now underpins the practice I established on the Sunshine Coast in 2022, with a satellite site in Gympie, to better serve patients who might otherwise go without.
There can be a perception that eye care in regional Australia lags behind what’s available in the cities. I’d push back on that. We’re not sitting under a shell – the work we’re doing here is equivalent to what’s being done by the best ophthalmologists in Australia and the United Kingdom. That’s not a boast. It’s simply what regional patients deserve.
Dr Sonia Moorthy MBChB MPH FRANZCO is an ophthalmologist and owner of EyeHub on the Sunshine Coast and in Gympie in Queensland.
