LASIK Educational Material
Laser Eye Surgery
Wavefront LASIK - Part One
Wavefront laser technology was originally developed to sharpen the images seen by telescopes viewing distant objects in space.
Introduction |
Wavefront maps of Mars |
What is the value of wavefront?Wavefront LASIK - Part Three (on a new page)
What is meant by better than 20/20?
Where did wavefront come from?
Who is a good candidate for wavefront LASIK?
What is the VISX WavePrint System?Wavefront LASIK - Part Four (on a new page)
Is Wavefront LASIK safe?
What does wavefront LASIK cost?
Will Dr. Cutarelli depend on me for anything?
I have already had LASIK. Can wavefront help me?
Has any further research been done?
Introduction to Wavefront LASIK
This is BIG NEWS!
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Wavefront mapping is the most amazing breakthrough diagnostic tool for measuring the refractive error of eyes to come along in years. With this technology you may now have fully customized vision. For some, this may mean moving beyond 20/20 vision!
For the first time in medical history, we now have access to technology capable of revealing exactly how your optics system processes light. A newly developed, sophisticated piece of diagnostic equipment called the WavePrint identifies and measures imperfections in an individual's eye twenty-five times more precisely than previous methods - that's astounding!
This is a dramatic step forward in our pursuit of perfect vision. Previously, we were limited to only a few basic measurement of the eye. Now, wavefront mapping gives us an actual 'fingerprint' of the entire visual system, not just the shape of the cornea .
Like a fingerprint, your eyes are unique to you. Wavefront measures the way light travels through your eye and compares it to the way light would travel through a "perfect" eye. This determines the distortions of your eye and creates a prescription that Dr. Cutarelli will use to plan your procedure.
Why Wavefront LASIK is important.
Nearly 60 million Americans today suffer from poor vision, all because of the eye's inability to focus light precisely on the retina due to a collection of structural defects, called aberrations.
The most basic structural defects are based on sphere, which is responsible for nearsightedness and farsightedness, or cylinder, which refers to regular astigmatism. These are all known as lower-order aberrations.
These lower-order aberrations can be corrected with traditional glasses, contact lenses, and LASIK. However, if measured by using the typical phoropter (the adjustable machine in most eye doctor offices - pictured here), thousands of individuals will mostly likely end up receiving the same prescription.
Before wavefront, conventional laser vision correction could only correct sphere and cylinder errors. The precision was limited to the information provided by the phoropter and limited to 0.25 diopter steps. With wavefront, sphere and cylinder are measured to the hundredths of a diopter.
The degree of correction for lower-order aberrations is measured as a quantity - how much of the chart can you see at a distance, with 20/20 vision considered normal. In its simplest form:
--> Lower-order aberrations = quantityHowever, there is a second category of optical defects, called higher-order aberrations. These irregularities in the structure of the eye affect the quality of vision, primarily details, causing such problems as contrast sensitivity.
--> Higher-order aberrations = quality
Traditionally these higher-order aberrations have been described as irregular astigmatism and considered an insurmountable hurdle to best-refracted vision because there has been no method to take measurements. Until the evolution of wavefront technology, higher-order aberrations could not be detected nor corrected.
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Now we have diagnostic power over irregular astigmatism as well as sphere and cylinder. We have the ability to map precise levels of these higher-order aberrations using such innovative powerhouses as the VISX CustomVue Wavefront Analyzer at Cutarelli Vision.
What is the goal of Wavefront LASIK?
The goal of wavefront controlled LASIK is to develop a plan that improves the overall quantity and quality of vision. The plan goes like this:
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Greatly reduce the lower order aberrations of nearsightedness, farsightedness,
and astigmatism
- Reduce, or at least not increase, the higher order aberrations
How Wavefront LASIK works
At its very basic, wavefront mapping uses a simple technique. It takes only a few minutes to complete and is absolutely painless. No medications or eye drops are required. You stare ahead at a field and focus on an object. While doing so, a beam of light is projected into your eye. This light is reflected off the back of your eye and out.
Using data points as reference, the wavefront analyzer maps where the light exiting your eye land. What is produced is an exact rendition of your eye. Earlier analyzers only looked at few data points (as seen below). The VISX CustomVue wavefront analyzer at Cutarelli Vision looks at nearly 2,000 data points, providing the most detailed map of the your eye possible.
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The wavefront map (a very basic one shown above), is a brightly colored diagram of your vision. The different colors show Dr. Cutarelli how light is moving through your eye. For example, red shows areas in which light moves quickly, blue shows areas in which light is moving slowly.
For your LASIK procedure, a more sophisticated version called the WavePrint uses a computer to convert the information into a highly individualized prescription. This prescription is transferred electronically to the computer that controls the VISX S4 excimer laser, which then calculates how and where it will affect the cornea. Dr. Cutarelli then uses this information to perform your actual surgery.
Read more: Wavefront LASIK, part two.