Traditional LASIK vs. Custom LASIK
Chicago, Illinois
As with many surgical procedures, LASIK has improved as newer technology opened the way for better methods. The main difference between traditional LASIK vs. Custom LASIK is the advanced WaveFront technology used to diagnose and treat eye disorders. To see the difference between traditional LASIK and Custom LASIK, please visit LVC counselor.
WaveFront technology can measure the unique eye characteristics with 25 times more precision than the traditional methods of checking for glasses. These measurements are precise, and can measure the degree of both LOAs (lower order aberrations) and HOAs (higher order aberrations) directly, giving a map of the visual system as unique as a person’s fingerprint. This data is then used to program the computerized laser equipment to perform highly accurate ablation based upon the unique measurements taken for each eye.
About LOAs and HOAs
LOAs include refractive disorders such as farsightedness (hyperopia), nearsightedness (myopia), and astigmatism. LOAs can be diagnosed using either traditional examination procedures or wavefront technology with the VISX CustomVue®. LOAs can be corrected with laser surgery or with glasses or contact lenses.
HOAs are refractive disorders that also can affect vision. Using WaveFront diagnostics, sixty-four have been diagnosed. They cause problems such as night glare, starbursts, halos around lights, decreased contrast, and double vision. Those with a high level of HOAs tend to have large amounts of glare at night.
HOAs are often the result of the interaction between multiple aberrations in an eye. HOAs are diagnosed using WaveFront technology, and they cannot be diagnosed using ordinary eye examination techniques. Nor can they be corrected with lenses.
The incidence of HOAs is far lower after Custom LASIK than after traditional LASIK. This allows for the opportunity for better vision after WaveFront guided Custom LASIK than could be had with the best pair of glasses or contact lenses. Also, FDA studies showed that those with Custom WaveFront LASIK had 85% less glare at night than before surgery.
Custom LASIK Advantages
Using the VISX S4 wavefront diagnostic and treatment equipment, Dr. Golden diagnoses HOAs as accurately as LOAs. WaveFront data creates maps of the unique characteristics of each eye and guides the laser in ablating precisely targeted corneal tissue. WaveFront makes the difference between traditional LASIK and custom LASIK.
Custom WaveFront-guided LASIK is also:
- Twenty-five times more precise than traditional LASIK.
- Better able to achieve 20/20 or better vision than traditional LASIK.
- More likely to avoid loss of contrast sensitivity.
- More likely to avoid HOA results such as night vision aberrations.
- Used to treat loss of best-corrected vision from other eye surgery.
- More likely to preserve best-corrected vision than traditional LASIK.
- Capable of determining whether refractive surgery is contraindicated.
Overall, custom LASIK is far more precise than traditional LASIK. This advantage means that custom LASIK can treat more aberrations with a single procedure, and results are better and more predictable than with traditional LASIK.
Custom LASIK is a major advance in laser eye surgery that can replace any traditional LASIK procedure.
If you would like to learn more about how traditional LASIK compares to custom LASIK from an experienced ophthalmologist in the Chicago, Arlington Heights and Downtown Chicago metropolitan area, please contact Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center for your personal evaluation.
Two Locations:
Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center
875 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1550
Chicago, IL 60611 | Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center
2010 S Arlington Heights Rd, Suite 121
Arlington Heights, IL 60005 |
