Eye care technology is ever-changing, so it’s important to keep up with what your options are when it comes to treatment, and how to discern which plan will work for you. LASIK, in particular, is a rapidly evolving operation and continues to become safer and more effective every year.
A major development in recent years regarding LASIK surgery is the involvement of computers to map out the patient’s eye. This allows for inhuman precision when performing calculations on the size and shape of the cornea. This specific type of LASIK is known as “Custom Wavefront LASIK”. The other form is “traditional LASIK”, which does not use Wavefront technology. Read below for a deeper analysis of each of these types of LASIK,
Traditional LASIK
LASIK has been around in the U.S. since 1999. The technology to map out corneas with computers was still a few years away from being developed. So how did doctors manage to treat patient’s eyes reliably? They used the same methods that we still use today to determine a patient’s prescription. Believe it or not, things like the eye chart exams give doctors quite a lot of information about your eyes. Here’s a quick list of a few different methods used by eye doctors to determine your prescription.
- Visual acuity. This is the classic chart on the wall with letters arranged from largest to smallest. This determines how different your eyes are from each other, and gives a good basic insight into your overall ability to see.
- Depth Perception. This test, sometimes called a stereopsis test, determines your level of spacial awareness.
- Refraction. This test is the one that specifically concludes on what your prescription is. It uses a phoropter to quickly switch between lenses. You will be asked to decide which ones are clearer. After a while, the doctor will narrow it down to the best lens for your eyes.
This also gives the doctor a good idea as to what your cornea is shaped like, due to the nature of different refractive errors. This information is put into a computer before LASIK, meaning that people with the same refractive error get the same treatment.
Custom Wavefront LASIK
People have very uniquely shaped corneas, so a “one size fits all” treatment may not be the best choice for many. Today, custom LASIK has totally changed the game. The tech has been helping eye specialists since 2003 to deliver a personalized experience for each individual. The main piece of equipment that sets custom apart is the “aberrometer”. This is what scans the patient’s eyes for aberrations. New England Eye Center practices use Orbscan and Galilei scanning technology for their wavefront needs. Click [here] to see in-depth information about our technology.
The Verdict
While it may sound that the obvious winner is custom LASIK, not everyone is able to get it. Things such as scarring prevent the computer to accurately assess and map out the eye can disqualify you. For anyone unable to take advantage of custom LASIK, fear not, because traditional LASIK is also extremely effective.
Find out if you qualify from custom LASIK. Conveniently located in Boston, MA, you may be just a few steps away from forever changing the way you see! Call our Boston office to schedule your LASIK consultation today!
