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Lasik Technology
CustomCornea® - Giving you the highest quality of corrected vision. Click here to learn more!
LASIK
has come a long way in the last ten years and has had many advances.
Not
only are doctors better prepared and are more aware of potential complications,
the technology has also improved by leaps and bounds. Below is a summary
of the advances that have been made. Click through to the individual web
pages to get more detail.
The testing
equipment has become much more sophisticated.
Once
upon a time doctors were only able to see the front surface of the cornea
and were unable to see corneal abnormalities on the back surface until
it posed a problem. The Orbscan has made it possible to see abnormalities
ahead of time allowing doctors to avoid potential complications after
LASIK.
The flapmaker
or microkeratome has also come a long way.
In
its original state it consisted of a machine with many little parts that
could cause potential problems if not in the hands of an experienced surgeon.
Currently the Hansatome is the Gold standard and has eliminated many of
these problems.
On the market today there are two different laser platforms available referred to as broad beam or small beam lasers.
Broad beam lasers have been around for a long time and were originally introduced in clinical trials in the US in 1987. The first Excimer laser to be approved by the FDA (1995) was the Summit Technology laser. It was also the first laser to gain FDA approval (1999) for LASIK in particular. Broad beam lasers include Summit Technolog, VISX and Nidek lasers.
The small-beam laser represents the next generation of excimer laser technology. Currently the only small-beam laser to be FDA approved, that also incorporates infrared radar tracking technology, is the LADARVision system by Alcon.
Laser Technology comparison:
 |
LADARVision | VISX Star | B&L Technolas | Nidek | LaserSight |
| Tracker | Laser radar, closed loop | Video, open loop |
Video, open loop |
none | none |
| Speed (Hz) | 4,000 | 60 | 120 | ||
| Compensates for Saccadic Eye Movement |
Yes | No | No | ||
| FDA-Approved Tracker Claims | Yes | No | No | ||
| Beam Profile | Gaussian | Flat Top | Flat Top | Flat Top | Gaussian |
| Beam Shape | Small spot | Broad beam | Small spot | Scanning slit | Small spot |
| Beam Diameter | 0.8 mm | Up to 6.5 mm | 2.0 mm | 0.1 mm
x 2.0 mm x 9.0 mm |
1.0 mm |
