Advantages of Laser Vision Correction

Like our fingerprints, each of our eyes is different and has its own unique shape and visual characteristics. Wavefront Guided Custom LASIK develops individualised software treatment plans for each eye. Unlike the standard LASIK procedure, which only corrects refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism) and routinely achieves 20/20 vision, Wavefront LASIK goes beyond just correcting refractive errors, to actually improving visual capabilities; so you may see better than you did with glasses or lenses before the procedure, hence improving your 'Visual Acuity'.

The visual system is actually capable of seeing 20/10, or better; that is, letters twice as small as the 20/20 letters on an eyechart. Most people cannot see beyond 20/20 because of very subtle imperfections within their visual system. Using the Wavefront technology, it is possible to first map these subtle visual imperfections, and then develop a laser treatment plan to correct them.

The key to Wavefront treatment is a device called a Tscherning Wavefront Analyser. This projects a fine grid of 168 light beams onto the retina and captures its image using a high resolution CCV camera. This image is then compared with one from a normal eye, and the difference between the two provides a "Wavefront Map", which is used to program the laser. This means we can measure both, the extent of poor vision and its causes, with greater precision than has ever been possible before.

The potential benefits of Wavefront Guided Custom LASIK:

• Greater possibility of achieving 20/20 vision
• Greater possibility of achieving better than 20/20 vision
• Reduced possibility of losing best-corrected vision
• Reduced possibility of losing visual quality or contrast sensitivity
• Reduced possibility of night-vision disturbances and glare
• Increased possibility to restore best-corrected vision, if healing problems develop.

The laser itself
Where older lasers produce a broad, square-shaped beam, ours has a more rounded, sharply-focused profile measuring less than 1 mm across. This allows us to remove the minutest amounts of corneal tissue with greater accuracy, resulting in a more stable cornea - essential to sharper vision (See Optical Aberrations).