Other Refractive Surgeries

During your comprehensive exam coordinated through QualSight, the Ophthalmologist will take multiple refractive readings of your eye, measure your corneal thickness and topography, among several other tests. This will accomplish two things: first, to ensure you are a good candidate for laser eye surgery; second, to understand what particular refractive surgery will best meet your needs. Please discuss this closely with your doctor, and if you have any further questions, do not hesitate to speak to your QualSight Care Manager. Here are a few details on other procedures.

Custom LASIK

Also known as wavefront LASIK or wavefront-guided LASIK, uses 3-dimensional measurements of how your eye processes images to guide the laser in re-shaping the front part of the eye (cornea).

Originally used for NASA’S Hubble Telescope, the wavefront analyzer has been transitioned for medical use, allowing for a three-dimensional map of your cornea to be produced that is 25 times more precise than traditional measurements. The data from the wavefront analyzer is then electronically transferred to the laser, enabling your surgeon to customize the LASIK procedure to your unique visual requirements. Wavefront LASIK improves your chances to achieve better than 20/20 vision, and also allows for the correction of “high order aberrations”, or in layperson’s terms, minute imperfections in the eye, that glasses, contact lessons, or standard LASIK could never treat. These imperfections, now correctable with the analyzer, usually reveal themselves in visual glares and halos as well as difficulties with night vision.

With this technology, laser vision correction reaches a groundbreaking new level. Now you can improve not only how much you see (measured with a standard 20/20 eye chart), but also how well you can see in terms of contrast sensitivity and fine detail.

PRK

Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) reshapes the cornea in the same bladeless way as LASIK, treats nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, and achieves similar successful results to those who receive traditional LASIK.

The key difference with PRK is that the surgery does not involve the creation of a corneal flap; therefore the treatment removes some of the surface cells of the front of the eye. Many surgeons prefer this procedure for patients with larger pupils or thin corneas. However, because the surface cells must heal after the surgery, your recovery time will be longer, and you may feel more discomfort than with LASIK.

IntraLase

With IntraLase, your surgeon utilizes an advanced infrared laser to create the cornea flap instead of the microkeratome used in traditional LASIK. This laser operates at extremely high speed (pulses of one quadrillionth of a second), allowing tissue to be targeted and divided at the molecular level without any fear of impact to surrounding cells. The resulting flap is created at a precise depth and diameter predetermined by your surgeon. The remainder of the surgery follows in the same manner as traditional LASIK or Custom LASIK.

Due to its precision, IntraLase has opened the door for many people with thin corneas to benefit from laser vision correction. Further, clinical studies have shown that IntraLase may reduce the already low (less than 1%) complication rates that occur in standard LASIK.

Monovision

Typically during our forties, the focusing lens inside the eye becomes less flexible making it difficult to focus on objects in the near range. This is a condition called Presbyopia. With Monovision, the refractive surgeon corrects one eye to see well for distance and slightly under-corrects the other to work for short range vision. As a result, the brain adjusts to rely on the appropriate eye depending on whether the patient is reading or looking at the horizon. Monovision is an extremely effective option for those seeking relief from the use of bifocals. As with most procedures, a small percentage may not respond to Monovision. However, a skilled LASIK surgeon can often test for a successful outcome before undergoing the surgery.

CK

Conductive Keratoplasty (CK) is an alternative refractive surgery that utilizes radio waves instead of lasers. These radio waves shrink collagen in the periphery of the cornea, effectively lengthening it. This relatively new surgery can currently be used to treat presbyopia (farsightedness), although treatments for astigmatism are being researched.