Standard Laser Correction

Just like a fingerprint, each person’s vision is unique to their eyes. Standard laser vision correction treats patients strictly on the basis of their glasses prescription. With a standard laser correction procedure, two patients with the same prescription would receive exactly the same laser treatment, despite the fact that their eyes have different optical imperfections.

Although night vision problems, such as halos, glare or starbursts are rare, they are more likely to occur with standard than with custom laser vision correction.

Custom Laser Correction

While standard Excimer lasers were concerned only with correcting myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism (lower order aberrations), the new lasers can be used to treat higher order aberrations to further improve your vision.

Our visual system has the potential of seeing 20/10. However, most people’s vision is not better than 20/20 due to subtle vision imperfections (higher order aberrations). By reducing the effects of these imperfections, a custom laser treatment may sometimes correct vision to better than 20/20.

1. Small spot laser
2. Precise eye tracking
3. The VISX CustomVue

Allegretto Wave Laser

This latest Excimer laser system breakthrough was the first in the industry to be conceived and developed for application in customized refractive surgery.

The Allgretto Wave laser was also the first laser to use wavefront-optimized profiles that takes corneal curvature into consideration, thus integrating an important wavefront-guided treatment feature in standard laser vision correction.

Tracking Your Eye Movements

Eye movements were not a factor with standard laser systems. Patients could hold their eye still, during the procedure, by staring at a fixation light.

However, with the advent of custom vision correction, small unpredictable eye movements, called saccadic eye movements, became very important. New laser systems have been updated to track these eye movements and direct the laser to move precisely with the eye. The result is a more accurate sculpting of the corneal tissue, leading to a better visual outcome.

The VISX CustomVue

THE STAR S4 IR laser from VISX

The CustomVue procedure tailors a distinct correction for each individual – in fact each treatment is “designed” by the unique characteristics of the individuals’ eyes.

WaveScan technology captures unique imperfections in each individual’s vision that could not have been measured before. This new level of measurement provides 25-times more precision than measurements using standard methods for glasses and contact lenses.

WaveScan technology produces a detailed map of the eye – much like a fingerprint, no two are alike and translates this information into a set of CustomVue treatment instructions for the laser. WaveScan transfers these digital treatment instructions to the laser, providing a new level of precision and accuracy.

WaveScan Wavefront System

The WaveScan WaveFront System is an ophthalmic diagnostic instrument that measures the refractive error and wavefront aberrations of the human eye using a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor. The measurements can be used to determine regular (sphero-cylindrical) refractive errors and irregularities (aberrations) that cause decreased or blurry vision in the human eye. The WaveScan software uses the information to create a custom tailored correction map for the unique characteristics of each individual eye.

WaveScan technology was originally developed for use in high-powered telescopes to reduce distortions when viewing distant objects in space.

This technology has now been applied to laser vision correction, measuring imperfections in the eye never before measured using standard methods for glasses and contact lenses. WaveScan-based digital technology identifies and measures imperfections in your eyes 25 times more precisely than standard methods.

The powerful WaveScan software translates the information into a set of CustomVue treatment instructions for the laser. These digital treatment instructions are then transferred to the laser, driving a new level of precision and accuracy.