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Posted by: Georgia Center for Sight

When It Comes to Custom LASIK, There’s More to the Truth Than Meets the Eye

As your doctor, we are always on the lookout for what’s best for our patients. However, with all of the gimmicks and competing claims out there, it can be hard to get to the truth.

What makes for truly custom LASIK?

The fact of the matter is, the leading LASIK systems all offer a custom, wavefront-based solution for our patients. For a LASIK system to be truly custom, it needs to give us, the surgeons, the flexibility to do more. Many LASIK systems (including “true” custom LASIK) only offer one type of procedure, so every patient must be treated the same, whether we want to?and whether it makes sense to?or not. What?s truly custom about that?

WaveLight? LASIK offers a custom solution for surgeons and patients alike?and the flexibility we need to do more. Powered by the advanced WaveLight?Allegretto Wave® Eye-Q Lasers, only WaveLight® LASIK provides multiple custom treatment options and the widest approved range for wavefront-based treatment. We can tailor treatment as we see fit, so we can choose the unique procedure that?s right for our patients:

• Wavefront-Guided LASIK is designed to provide personalized treatment, with a reduction of higher-order aberrations1,2.

• While effective at reducing higher-order aberrations, this option requires a much more time-consuming treatment process of testing, measuring, and refining to get proper wavefront aberrometry:a process that is only truly required to correct a significant degree of higher order aberrations (occurring in less than 15% of cases)

Wavefront Optimized® LASIK was developed to consider the unique curvature of the eye, preserving the natural, aspheric shape of the cornea, for less induced spherical aberration5.

• Ideal for up to 90% of potential LASIK patients, Wavefront Optimized® LASIK offers a fast and efficient procedure, with high patient satisfaction and throughput.

• Allows surgeons to treat a greater degree of high myopia and more than double the range of hyperopia than competing LASIK systems.

• Provides similar visual results to Wavefront-Guided LASIK, without the unnecessary steps of gathering aberrometry data. As a result, surgeons only need to take the extra steps of Wavefront-Guided LASIK when it makes sense to do so.

• Only offered as part of WaveLight® LASIK

References

1. US Food and Drug Administration. Summary of safety and effectiveness data for a supplemental premarket approval application. http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/pdf2/P020050S004b.pdf. Accessed February 12, 2009.

2. Padmanadham P, Mrochen M, Basuthkar S, et al. Wavefront-guided versus wavefront-optimized laser in situ keratomileusis: contralateral comparative study. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2008;34:389-397.

3. Chalita MR, Krueger RR. Wavefront-guided excimer laser surgery. In: Albert D, Miller J, Azar D, Cocks ACF, Blodi B, eds. Albert & Jakobiec?s Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders W B Co; 2008:1041-1049.

4. Waring GO, Durrie DS. Emerging trends for procedure selection in contemporary refractive surgery: consecutive review of 200 cases from a single center. J Refract Surg. 2008;24:S419-S423.

5. Mrochen M, Donitzky C, Willner C, Liffler J. Wavefront-optimized ablation profiles: theoretical background. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2004;30:775-785.