Are you tired of relying on contact lenses and glasses? Custom Wavefront guided Lasik is helping to improve the vision of many people. It corrects common refractive problems like astigmatism, farsightedness, and nearsightedness.
Since the FDA approved using excimer laser in Lasik procedures more than 20 years ago, the vision of many Americans has improved. Most patients achieve 20/40 unassisted vision or better. You can click here to read about it.
What is Custom Wavefront Guided Lasik?
Lasik means laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis, a surgery for correcting vision. It aims at reshaping the cornea in the eye using guided lasers. The cornea is a part of the eye that refracts light to the retina to create a clear image.
Additionally, it is among the popular outpatient surgeries to correct refractive errors. The errors are linked to the way the cornea is shaped. When the cornea refracts light on the retina, it is sent to the optic nerve for the brain to process it to form an image. If the light was not properly refracted, the image will appear doubled or blurry.
However, using Wavefront guided Lasik removes a small amount of the defective cornea to change its shape such that it refracts light properly. This creates a clearer vision between 20/20 to 20/40 sight.
The following are criteria to qualify for the custom Lasik procedure:
- You are experiencing farsightedness that has no link to age (presbyopia).
- You are experiencing mild or moderate astigmatism, farsightedness, or nearsightedness.
- The thickness of your cornea is suitable for surgery.
- You do not have a history of scarring, eye disease, or infection.
- You are an adult, 18 years and above.
Advantages of the Lasik Procedure
Here are the things you will gain from undergoing a Lasik procedure:
1. Greater Accuracy
The procedure creates a detailed, 3D map of the cornea using wavefront technology. This map is incredibly precise and enables the doctor to identify very minute imperfections. This feature makes the procedure highly accurate.
Since the map essentially serves as the blueprint of the patient’s eye, the surgeon will provide a vision correction that is customized for the unique properties of the cornea. This was not possible before the introduction of wavefront technology.
2. Addresses Various Vision Problems
The eyes contain both lower and higher-order aberrations, which means the cornea could feature some imperfections. Traditional surgery addresses the aberrations of lower order like astigmatism, farsightedness, and shortsightedness.
However, custom Lasik surgery can detect and correct aberrations of both lower and higher-order. This means that it can treat complex eye problems like blurring, starbursts, halos, glare, and many other vision-related problems.
3. Laser Precision
Unlike traditional Lasik, this procedure is blade-free. This helps to reduce the risk of post-operation complications and corneal infections. The laser does not use heat; therefore, no tissue in the cornea will be damaged during the procedure.
4. Great Margin of Improvement in Vision
The Lasik procedure goes a step ahead to improve your vision as well as your overall visual quality. People who undergo the procedure stand a chance of getting 20/20 restoration or higher. It also improves the quality of night vision and contrast sensitivity.
Does the Procedure Have Any Side Effects?
Lasik procedure, whether custom or traditional has side effects. They are:
- Undercorrection, meaning the error in refraction is still blurring or distorting the vision
- Overcorrection, which leads to headaches and difficulty in focusing
- Light sensitivity
- Infection
- Inflammation
- Issues related to night vision
- Problem with night driving
- Pain, itchiness, or discomfort in the affected eye
- Blurry or hazy vision
- Starbursts, halos, or glare around lights
- Dry eyes
These problems usually resolve on their own while the very serious ones require treatment. In some cases, the side effects could become permanent. However, with the custom Lasik procedure, these side effects will probably not occur and if they do, they won’t be permanent. You can check out here to know how to prepare for the surgery.
Conclusion
Due to the improvement in technology, the medical field has not remained the same. One of such improvements is the introduction of wavefront technology for correcting defective cornea. The benefits of undergoing the procedure are numerous and we shared a few in this article.
