Dr Lau LL
Senior Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr Lau is a specialist in Orthopaedic Surgery subspecialising in Spine Surgery with a special interest in Paediatric Spine. He has more than 20 years of experience in the medical field. The depth and breadth of his medical training coupled with more than a decade of experience managing various spinal conditions from infants to nonagenarians in a high-volume tertiary teaching hospital environment honed his skills and sharpened his clinical acumen.
Guided by evidence-based medicine and adopting a consultative approach while supported by a multidisciplinary team, he places his patients on the road to recovery holistically and expeditiously.
Dr Lau graduated from Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin in 2002 with honours in anatomy and pharmacology. He did both basic and advanced surgical training in Singapore. He obtained a Master of Medicine in Orthopaedic Surgery from National University Singapore (NUS) and became a member and then a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2011.
Dr LAU Leok-Lim
He embarked on subspeciality training in Spine Surgery at National University Hospital (NUH) for 2 years. After being appointed a full-fledged spine surgeon, he pursued further clinical training in the field of Paediatric Spine Surgery at an ACGME-accredited facility at Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in the United States for a year. Dr Lau is the first fully trained Spine Surgeon who is also fellowship trained in the field of Paediatric Spine Surgery. He has since practised in the area for more than a decade.
Dr Lau ran a busy tertiary spine service prior to his departure to private practice. He was one of the highest volume surgeons seeing more than 4000 patient-visits per year and performing hundreds of surgeries annually.
He conducted regular same-day spinal intervention services such as nerve root block in the outpatient department to facilitate the care of the patients to aid their prompt recovery.
In the course of his work, many of his patients benefitted from his personal touch. He felt honoured when he was invited to pen the foreword in a book entitled ‘Embrace’ – written by his patient, Liz, who underwent scoliosis surgery. The book details her scoliosis journey and aims to encourage other patients in a similar predicament.
Dr Lau serves as an Assistant Professor at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and is actively involved in teaching and examining duties at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In the area of academic work, he has published more than 20 papers and 9 book chapters. His main interest is in spinal deformity management, particularly Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. After securing a grant of more than SGD 2 million, he was appointed as the Project Director to optimise the National Scoliosis Screening Programme. One of his proudest achievements is the decade-long multi-pronged effort that has resulted in a reduction of surgical eligibility rates significantly whilst maintaining a favourable cost-benefit ratio. Recognising his effort, he was invited to share the findings internationally.
Apart from the academic work, he is active in various professional organisations such as the Singapore Orthopaedic Association, Asia Pacific Spine Society and North America Spine Society. He served previously as the Treasurer and the exco member of the Singapore Spine Society. As a country delegate and national faculty of the AO Spine, he chaired and lectured in several well-structured courses to train budding and early-career spine surgeons from the region.
Dr Lau manages all aspects of the spinal pathologies. He is versatile in various surgical techniques in the management of adult spinal conditions including minimal invasive surgery (MIS), robotic-guided and motion preservation techniques. In the field of paediatric spine, he is an expert in various growth-sparing techniques such as vertebral body tethering (VBT), endoscopic deformity correction, and large deformity correction techniques. He utilises the latest technology such as 3D printing and smart braces to help his patients.
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He treats a myriad of adult and paediatric spinal conditions including back pain, prolapsed intervertebral disc, spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, myelopathy, spinal tumours, inflammatory and traumatic spinal conditions, scoliosis, kyphosis, spinal disorders associated with skeletal dysplasia, neuromuscular conditions, growth and endocrine disorders, genetic and syndromic pathologies.