Lasik Without Flap
The five most important improvements in LASIK since it was invented
There have been five major developments in LASIK since the invention:
1. The use of eye trackers – the first LASIK procedures required the patient to fixate on a light and that was what was used to focus the treatment. The invention of eye-tracking technology allows the laser to be programmed to define the location of the pupil and when treatment is started even if the eye moves, the laser remains focused on the student giving treatments that are correctly centered on the optical part of the eye.
2. Small spot laser scanning – The first lasers and still in use today use a wide beam "where the beam of laser treatment is as large as the optical zone to treat, and astigmatism corrected by varying the form of the beam. Although this is effective, there are limitations to the types of forms that can be created, and the quality of ablation is limited to the laser beam quality. more lasers new exploration using small dots to give shape to the front of the eye, and with a much lower power laser pulse.
3. Wavefront-optimized ablation – Originally LASIK was performed using a mathematical model to flatten the central cornea to correct refractive error. It was learned that this creates halos, glare and other optical aberrations that are unwanted, especially in patients with larger pupils. The newer lasers can correct the error refractive error, but maintain a more natural shape or elongated due to a higher advanced algorithms for correction.
4. All Laser LASIK – All Laser LASIK was carried out initially by a microkeratome that uses a disposable razor blade to cut the corneal flap, which is the first step in the procedure Traditional LASIK. Using a femtosecond laser, IntraLase, and then others were able to create a flap with a laser that is safer, more predictable, and gives more reproducible results. The portion of the razor is still used by many centers today, but it is the cause of most of the risks of the procedure LASIK.
5. LASIK flap thin – At first, the entire LASIK flap was performed with approximately 180 microns. This is about 20% of the thickness of structural cornea (epithelial skin does not count) in most cases and the thickness was unpredictable due to the use of the sheet (due in April). A sometimes the other was more than 200 microns. This can weaken the cornea and cause complications. The laser method we can all make thin flaps, and eventually doctors have moved to "LASIK flap thin" with fins of about 100 microns and in some cases 90 microns which is half the thickness of the original flap.
BETTER BONUS: Although technically not a change in Denver LASIK itself diagnostic capability have improved since the early days of LASIK by imaging of the cornea more robust technologies such as October, the analysis of wave front and posterior surface topography. All these changes have contributed to an improvement in LASIK. We have recently begun to look to the corneal hysteresis (CH) which is a measure strength of the cornea.
About the Author
Dr. Dishler is the first doctor to perform LASIK in Colorado, the first doctor to offer blade free LASIK in Colorado, and is a consultant, lecturer, and inventor. He is involved with several FDA studies and answers questions related to laser vision correction online.
Thin-Flap LASIK: SBK
May 5th, 2010 at 6:33 am
It depends on your eyes, but they can probably be improved to better than 20/20. Just be careful to do some homework before you risk your eyes, it is NOT a minor routine operation so find out everything you can about the surgeon who will do the work. Scarring can occur which will leave you permanently seeing scratch marks in front of your eyes.