If you desire the sharpest vision possible after laser vision correction, a procedure you certainly need to consider is custom-made wavefront LASIK. Here are key things you ought to understand about this sophisticated form of LASIK surgery.
What Is Custom Wavefront LASIK?
Custom-made wavefront LASIK – likewise called “custom-made LASIK” or “wavefront LASIK”– adds a higher degree of accuracy and personalization to LASIK vision correction surgery by using innovative wavefront innovation to evaluate the distinct qualities of your eyes.
Why Wavefront-guided LASIK?
Over the last several years, the FDA has actually approved lots of signs for WFG LASIK on a range of laser platforms. Hyperopia, combined astigmatism, in addition to myopia with astigmatism are now approved. A review of the 6-month information for the treatment of low-to-moderate myopia reported to the FDA for both wavefront-guided and conventional treatment plainly shows an improvement in the effectiveness of the wavefront results. This uses to all laser systems presently approved for custom-made treatment. While conventional treatments satisfied the FDA requirements for uncorrected acuity and intended versus attained acuity, WFG outcomes were better.
Standard LASIK surgery attempts to recreate the vision correction that your spectacles prescription offers. However glasses prescriptions are not unique– thousands, even millions, of people can have the very same glasses prescription. And since of special qualities of each person’s eyes that can not be determined with the standard technology used to identify refractive mistake during an eye exam, people who have the same spectacles prescription will see the world with different degrees of clarity with those exact same prescription lenses.
Custom-made LASIK uses a lot more detailed info than a traditional spectacles prescription to program the excimer laser that reshapes your eye during the vision correction procedure. The wavefront technology used for custom LASIK makes the procedure remarkable to a standard LASIK procedure in two ways:
1. Customized wavefront LASIK is more precise. During a regular eye test, your doctor will present various lenses in front of your eyes while you are looking at an eye chart and ask, “Which lens makes the letters look clearer– lens 1 or lens 2?” Sometimes the lenses will look the exact same, and it’s hard to select which one makes the chart appearance clearer. Possibly a lens between the two?
Each “click” on the dial of that instrument your doctor uses to determine your spectacles prescription represents the tiniest system of power used to produce a standard pair of spectacles, which is 0.25 diopter (D). This is why your eyeglass prescription has numbers like -1.25 D and -1.50 D, however not 1.3 D.
With customized wavefront LASIK, the power of lenses required to correct your vision is determined in 0.01 D units. In other words, think of if during your eye test, instead of having just “lens 1” and “lens 2” to pick from, you had 24 extra lenses in between these two to choose from! The good news is, selecting the lens that most accurately fixes your vision for a custom LASIK procedure is done instantly by a computer, rather of making you choose.
So, by assessing the refractive errors of your eyes in 0.01 D increments (instead of 0.25 D increments, as in a routine eye examination), measurements used for customized wavefront LASIK are 25 times more exact than lens powers used in a glasses prescription.
2. Custom wavefront LASIK is more specific. What does this mean? When your doctor is determining your eyeglass prescription during your eye examination, he or she is examining your eye’s ability to focus light as an unified whole. One lens prescription is determined for your whole eye.
In addition to the much higher precision of measurements considered custom-made LASIK, these measurements are collected from hundreds of different reference points on the front surface of the eye. All these data are collected and used to create a detailed map of the refractive error and focusing imperfections called higher-order aberrations across the entire cornea, and after that used to program the laser to deliver a 100 percent customized vision correction for your particular needs.
Types Of Custom LASIK
There are 3 standard types of customized LASIK treatments:
1. Wavefront-guided LASIK
This procedure uses in-depth, wavefront-generated measurements of how light waves take a trip through your eyes and fall upon the retina, to create a laser treatment that is entirely customized for your eye anatomy and vision correction needs. In addition to remedying nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, wavefront-guided LASIK minimizes irregular higher-order aberrations that can lower visual clearness after all significant refractive errors are remedied.
Wavefront-guided LASIK systems that are FDA-approved for use in the United States consist of: iDesign Advanced CustomVue LASIK System (Abbott Medical Optics); WaveScan System CustomVue LASIK (Abbott Medical Optics); and Technolas 217z Zyoptix System for Personalized Vision Correction (Bausch + Lomb).
Wavefront-guided LASIK can decrease aberrations and increase visual acuity. Wavefront LASIK surgeries corrected visual acuity better than standard LASIK. We hope a super-normal visual acuity can be achieved. (Theo Seiler, MD, PhD, a cataract, IOL, anterior segment specialist.)
2. Wavefront-optimized LASIK
This procedure uses detailed measurements of the curvature of the front surface of your eye to maintain the natural aspheric shape of your cornea. Preserving the cornea’s natural shape minimizes the risk of a particular kind of higher-order aberration called round aberration, which can take place naturally in an eye or can be triggered by other types of laser vision correction procedures. Round aberration frequently causes halos around lights and other night vision issues.
FDA-approved wavefront-optimized LASIK systems consist of the WaveLight Allegretto Wave Eye-Q Excimer Laser System (Alcon).
3. Topography-guided LASIK
This procedure uses detailed measurements of the surface area of the cornea to program the laser to deal with vision issues brought on by corneal irregularities (including corneal scars) in addition to refractive errors. Topography-guided LASIK is not a wavefront LASIK procedure, however it provides a more tailored vision correction than traditional LASIK.
FDA-approved topography-guided LASIK systems consist of: Contoura Vision with the WaveLight Allegretto Wave Eye-Q Excimer Laser System or the WaveLight EX500 Excimer Laser System (Alcon).
Is Custom LASIK Better Than Regular LASIK?
Typically, yes.
In one recent research study of custom LASIK, 100 percent of patients selected for the procedure attained 20/20 or better vision without glasses the day after surgery, 71 percent had 20/15 or better, and around 11 percent accomplished 20/10 (visual acuity twice as good as 20/20). Also, after going through the procedure, 98 percent of patients stated they would do it again. Other studies of customized LASIK have actually had similar excellent outcomes.
But many elements must be thought about – including your glasses prescription, the thickness of your cornea, your present complete satisfaction with your vision with glasses, how important you have to do with the quality of your visual skill, your visual needs, and your spending plan.
During your pre-op test and consultation, your eye doctor and/or LASIK surgeon can better inform you about your specific requirements and whether you are likely to notice considerably much better vision with customized LASIK compared with regular LASIK.
Also, your surgeon will be able to discuss which kind of custom LASIK innovation he or she chooses and the visual outcomes patients with refractive errors much like yours have obtained with that technology.
How Much Does Custom LASIK Cost?
It’s difficult to state the cost of LASIK and other laser vision correction surgery accurately, because prices can vary considerably in different areas of the nation and the kind of facility where you choose to have your procedure carried out.
Some LASIK surgeons will bundle fees, while others use “a la carte” prices; some doctors’ fees consist of follow-up care and complimentary LASIK enhancement if required, while others don’t; some surgeons offer the choice of all-laser LASIK with a customized LASIK procedure, while others use a microkeratome to create the LASIK flap; and so on. According to a leading industry expert, the average charge charged by LASIK surgeons in the United States in 2019 for customized wavefront LASIK with a femtosecond laser flap was $2,434 per eye. (Read more about LASIK eye surgery cost.)
