Custom LASIK Surgeries (The Revolution in the Field of Photo Refractive Surgery)

Many humans are ametropes (have some sort of optical aberrations leading to imperfect eye optical system). These aberrations are classified in to two categories:

1. Conventional or lower end aberrations; responsible for the common refractive errors as farsightedness, nearsightedness and astigmatism.They account for 90% of the optical aberrations and are treatable by conventional methods as spectacles, contact lenses or conventional laser refractive surgeries as LASIK, LASEK...etc.

2. High order aberrations; like chromatic aberrations, aberrations resulting from conventional photo refractive surgeries as Lasik, spherical aberrations...etc. They are responsible for the remaining 10%. The issue is that they are unique to each patient (i.e. no one patient has the same high order aberrations as any other patients). That's where custom LASIK or Wave front LASIK comes in handy.

What is Custom LASIK or Wave front LASIK?

Custom Lasik is a new modality in treating refractive errors utilizing the revolutionary Aberrometer analytical system, which is a new technique allowing the refractive surgeon not only to visualize the high order aberrations (as well as the lower end ones) in a 3D pattern but also to create a 3D map or image of them.

How does it work?

The Aberrometer analytical system (wave front analysis) sends beams of laser of low energy inside the eye, the laser waves are then reflected on the retina and travel back through the lens and the cornea and emerge as wave fronts where they are collected by specialized sensors to accurately determine the positions of both higher and lower order aberrations of the whole optical system of the eye in form of a 3D map in front of the surgeon. When this map is fed to an Excimer laser refractive surgery system utilizing a computerized high speed eye tracking system, the refractive surgeon can achieve a customized ablation (engraving) of the corneal surface to accurately eliminate not only lower end aberrations but also higher end ones.

What are the advantages and indications of Custom LASIK technology?

1. Treating higher end aberrations that can't be managed using conventional photo refractive methods.

2. Treating higher end aberrations resulting from previous photo refractive surgeries.

3. Achieving the best visual quality in terms of fine details, colours, contrast and of course visual acuity.

4. Minimizing the complications of conventional LASIK like glare and decreased night vision.

5. Achieving a visual acuity of 20/8 in selected cases (the perfect human visual acuity is 20/20), i.e. a visual acuity of a super human!!!

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What Is the Difference Between ASA and Lasik Eye Surgeries?

A lot of people who are considering having their vision fixed permanently want to know what the difference is between a Lasik eye surgery and a ASA procedure. The first thing you should know is that although I consult with medical professionals in the Lasik and ASA industry I am not actually a Lasik doctor so this piece is purely my opinion on the matter. If you would like more detailed results I would contact a local ASA or Lasik surgeon in your city.

Lasik and ASA results wise do not vary much from each other. Patients who receive ASA usually have the same benefit and result as patients who receive Lasik. So you may wonder what the big difference is between the two and why it really matters. Well the answer is recovery time. People who have Lasik performed usually recover much quicker then the people who get ASA. In addition Lasik patients use less eye drops and have less pain and stinging than ASA. Some may say well why not just always go with Lasik then? Well simply because of cost and professional opinion. Some surgeons will recommend different procedures for different patients completely based on whether or not they will have more benefits from one or the other.

So how do they work? Well with lasik eye surgery will use a laser to cut a small slit in your cornea. The doctor will then go inside with a tool to break up and remove your old lens that is making it difficult to see. Once the lens has been removed a new one will be inserted into your eye and the incision will be sewn up. The entire procedure doesn't really take very long and most people are in an out within a couple of hours. ASA on the other hand is a procedure where the surgeon removes a small layer on your cornea almost like sanding it off (you can see why it takes longer to heal). By removing this layer the surgeon is going to get down to a fresh layer and remove any of the old stuff on top. This way you should be able to see better.

Either procedure will depend on the doctor and what they recommend for you. Your best bet is to go in for a free consultation to find out for yourself. I would ask lots of questions and find out why your doctor will recommend one over the other. If you go in educated your doctor will be impressed and more than willing to talk you though any questions that come up.

Joseph Stevenson is a Las Vegas Lasik consultant and eye surgeon guru.

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