The Benefits of Wavefront LASIK

July 1st, 2014

Since the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the excimer laser for use in LASIK surgery more than 15 years ago, the procedure has helped millions of Americans to improve their vision and decrease their reliance on glasses and contact lenses, with the vast majority of patients achieving unaided vision of 20/40 or better. Few surgical procedures in the history of medicine have surpassed LASIK in terms of its record of success and overall patient satisfaction. 

This is not to say that LASIK hasn’t had its limitations, especially in its early years. Originally, the procedure was highly effective in addressing the most universal refractive errors, named myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism. These were the same errors that could be corrected by glasses and contact lenses. On the other hand, higher order aberrations – the tiny flaws in the shape of the cornea that were unique to each individual eye – could not be corrected by LASIK.

This has changed in the last decade, thanks to the introduction of wavefront technology into the pre-surgical diagnostic process. At the laser eye surgery center of Danny Lee, M.D. in Huntsville, wavefront LASIK benefits our valued patients by allowing us to provide a truly customized procedure, one that accounts for both universal refractive errors and higher order aberration. The result is a safer procedure that is more likely to give our patients back their visual independence.

The Benefits of Wavefront Technology

The wavefront technology we use at our practice enables us to produce a remarkably precise map of each individual eye, down to the finest detail. Even the smallest imperfections in the shape of the cornea are accounted for in the resulting wavefront map. This map is then used to guide the excimer laser during the actual LASIK procedure, during which the cornea is reshaped through the precise removal of tissue.

Among its many benefits, wavefront LASIK:

• Is more accurate than its conventional counterpart, which was limited to the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism.
• Allows for a more customized procedure, as it accounts for the unique anatomy of each eye.
• Can result in “high-definition” vision, as it corrects visual errors that glasses, contact lenses, and conventional LASIK simply cannot.
• Is more likely to result in freeing patients completely from having to wear glasses or contact lenses in any situation.
• Is far less likely to result in the undesirable side effects that are possible with any LASIK surgery, including halos, starbursts, and impaired night vision.
• Allows many patients who would not have been suitable candidates for conventional LASIK to undergo the procedure.
• Represents the state of the art in laser vision correction.

Another benefit of wavefront technology is that it can also be used in conjunction with PRK and LASEK to make those procedures safer and more effective. Patients who are not suitable candidates for LASIK can therefore enjoy the same benefits that wavefront technology has to offer with these alternative procedures.

Contact Our Laser Eye Surgery Center Today

To learn more about the benefits of wavefront LASIK, or to schedule your initial consultation with Dr. Danny Lee, please contact our laser eye surgery center today.