Excimer Technology
Chances are, several of your friends or family members are experiencing the joys of living without glasses or contact lenses as a result of laser vision correction. You have heard the excitement in their voices, noticed the boost in their confidence, and watched the quality of their lives improve with new-found freedoms from contacts and glasses. It's very probable that they had conventional LASIK or PRK and achieved superb results. Something has changed in the field of laser vision correction that makes the procedure safer and with even better visual results.
Now, people undergoing the new procedure (CustomVue) are experiencing less problems with night vision and a greater number of people are achieving 20/20 vision. The changes have come with new technological advances in the instrument that gathers the information that drives the laser correction, and with advances in the laser. The new technological advancement in the instrument that gathers the information is called a wavefront analyzer (WaveScan). The new technological advancement in the laser is called the VISX STAR S4 laser. The new procedure utilizing these two new technological advancements is called customized laser vision correction, or CustomVue. Customized LASIK or PRK can be done, and is collectively called CustomVue. It is called CustomVue because the procedure corrects not only myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism as we previously did, but it now corrects the other 100% unique imperfections of your eye. Now it's important to understand that the LASIK and PRK procedures themselves have not changed, but rather the way we gather information for your correction, and in the laser we use during these procedures.
Heavy patient demand for laser vision correction has inspired laser manufacturers and surgeons to make tremendous advancements in both Excimer laser technology, and surgical technique. When laser vision correction was first performed in 1988, only low to moderately nearsighted patients without astigmatism could be treated. Today, with the second and third generation Excimer lasers, very low to moderately high degrees of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism can be readily treated. And, for many patients who had large pupils, thin corneas, or other contraindications for laser vision correction, new surgical techniques now allow them to enjoy the benefits of clear vision without dependence on glasses and contact lenses that only a few years ago they would have been denied.
How It Works
The excimer laser makes pulses of invisible ultraviolet light. Each pulse of light removes a microscopic layer from the front surface of the cornea, changing the curvature of the cornea ever so slightly.
Only a very small amount of tissue is removed, usually less than the thickness of a hair. Low amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatisim will require smaller amounts of tissue removal, and larger corrections will require greater amounts.
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