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Laser Vision Correction for Your Eyes
Laser vision correction has revolutionized vision care. With the use of lasers, doctors now have the means to remedy the physical causes of common vision problems like nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, and not simply correct the symptoms of poor vision the way eyeglasses and contact lenses do.
This revolution continues today with technical advances designed to enhance the safety and accuracy of laser vision correction, and maximize the vision improvements experienced by patients. One important advance is the WavePrint™ System, developed by laser technology pioneer VISX Incorporated.
What is the WavePrint System?
The WavePrint System consists of VISX's STAR S3™ laser, which reshapes the eye's cornea during procedures such as LASIK and PRK; and VISX's WaveScan™, a highly sensitive diagnostic device that creates a WavePrint map, like "the fingerprint of your vision." Together, these devices create a highly personalized approach to laser vision correction.
Why WavePrint? Because Every Eye Is Unique
Your eye, like your fingerprint, is unique. Each of us has subtle individual variations of the components that contribute to the eye's visual function. The more these individual variations can be quantified - as with the WavePrint map - the greater the potential for a truly custom, individualized laser vision correction procedure that specifically addresses the physical shortcomings of your particular eyes.
A New Level of Diagnostic Precision
Until now, standard laser vision correction has treated "second-order" optical aberrations, which is just a fancy term for the irregularities primarily involving your cornea that are responsible for vision problems like nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.
But this conventional approach to vision correction does not analyze your complete vision from cornea to retina, including the tear film. It does not take into account the eye's so-called "higher-order" aberrations - that is, the subtle variations of the eye that decrease the quality of your vision without necessarily decreasing your ability to see the letters of an eye chart.
The WavePrint System measures these higher-order distortions with amazing accuracy. WavePrint data reveals the way the eye's entire optical system processes light. That's important, because the eye's subtle imperfections affect the quality of the image that projects onto the retina and can be a major factor in vision quality.
WavePrint Is the Future of Vision Surgery
Doctors can now use WavePrint information along with the usual refractive data collected during an eye exam, and they can perform laser vision correction more precisely than ever before.
Many leading physicians and researchers predict that "wavefront" technologies such as those employed in the WavePrint System will alter the way doctors approach corrective eye surgery. Some believe greater numbers of patients will achieve better than 20/20 vision. Meanwhile, outcomes of 20/20 vision, which up to now has been considered the gold standard of successful vision surgery, are becoming increasingly routine.
Use of the WavePrint System also opens the path to therapeutic application of laser vision correction technology. It gives doctors the ability to correct more complex visual conditions, and treat patients whose previous laser vision procedures didn't produce the desired refractive results.
That is the promise of the WavePrint System. After all, if no two persons' vision is quite the same, it makes little sense to rely on a one-size-fits-all treatment. |
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