Wavefront Technology – The Latest Advance in Lasik

Lasik corrective eye surgery is a wonderful advance in technology that has successfully helped several people to get better eyesight. The solution to better success from the procedure is to correctly associate the inputs about the patient existing visual system to the laser used in the procedure. This will ensure that the incisions made with the laser are apt for the corrections needed in the patient. As of now, wavefront technology is the best way to go to help provide the correct information about the patient to the operating equipment.

Wavefront Technology – What exactly does this mean?

Wavefront technology is a mapping system that provides information about refraction at various zones of the eye when a reflective light is shone on the eye. This mapping is like an individual’s thumbprint, distinctive to that person.

There are some conditions of the cornea that has a bearing on the refraction of the eye. An example to this is astigmatism where the surface of the cornea is highly asymmetrical. Lasik surgery is helpful in correcting these irregularities and bringing about an improvement in the vision. Wavefront technology not only is helpful in mapping, it is useful in retaining the corrected vision and reducing certain complications such as reduction of quality of vision and correcting vision problems at low light. Many clinical studies have shown that almost around 80% of people undergoing the custom procedure have improvements to their vision. This is definitely a good number of people in comparison to those who opted for traditional means of Lasik.

Wavefront technology is also helpful in evaluating a patient to know whether they are ideal to go for the procedure or not. This is important because there is a small percentage of people who might have a worsening of vision following the procedure.

Wavefront Technology – How is it Utilized?

With the traditional methods to conduct an eye exam, only two types of corneal aberrations can be detected namely cylindrical and spherical. If a person has a cylindrical aberration, the resulting defect is astigmatism and if there is a spherical aberration, the person is either farsighted or nearsighted (hyperopia and myopia).

With wavefront technology, more number of aberrations can be detected other than the ones detected by traditional means. The technology makes use of a laser beam to perform an evaluation. The laser creates a light source also known as wavefront sensor that gauges the surface of the cornea. With these measurements, the ablation required by the excimer laser is calculated.

While the evaluation is in progress, the patient is required to look at a fixed target. When the patient is gazing at the visual target, the laser beam is shone on the person’s eye. The light is reflected back from the retina through the pupil. The light that leaves the eye is caught by the wavefront sensor. The distortion of the wavefront is due to the refraction produced by the eye.

The wavefront of the beam that goes through the eye is flat. If the eye has no problems, the beam reflected back from the cornea will also have a flat wavefront. When there are problems with the lens, the reflected beam will have an irregular wavefront as the beam travels through the aberrations present in the cornea and the other parts of the eye. The data assimilated will help in the evaluation of the shape of the cornea and the irregularities present.

The data assimilated through wavefront technology is useful not only in evaluation of the patient it is also helpful in planning the corrective surgery.

Background of Wavefront

The technology of wavefront has been present for some time now and only of late has been utilized in corrective eye surgery. In earlier times, wavefront has been utilized by astronomers for fine-tuning the focus of the telescopes. This is used to fine tune a telescope when its reflective mirror gets distorted similar to the cornea in the eye. With the data obtained, irregularities are removed similar to how wavefront technology is used to correct asymmetry in the eye.

The Various Options

Wavefront technology has three major manufacturers in the United States namely, Custom Vue (Visx S4 laser), CustomCornea (Alcon LADARVision laser) and Zyoptix (Bausch & Lomb Technolas 217z laser). All these manufacturers have specialized in the field to provide tailor made solutions to every patient opting for the procedure.

Wavefront technology is a highly developed procedure that helps in evaluating and providing customized solutions to patients undergoing Lasik eye surgery. The use of wavefront technology has improved the chances of success one can get by undergoing Lasik treatment.