What is it?

Custom Wavefront LASIK is the latest technology to LASIK surgery. Standard LASIK procedures had brought a revolution in vision correction for many years. It is still widely used to correct refractive aberrations. Now with the advent of Custom Wavefront LASIK, the range for vision correction has broadened to a great extent. The common LASIK procedure is performed to treat sphero-cylindrical refractive errors but it brings on a side effect where the human eye suffers from numerous other minute optical imperfections, which cannot be corrected using conventional LASIK surgeries.

An instrument called the aberrometer measures these minute imperfections and can be incorporated into the surgery. Thus it is also known as ‘customized’ or ‘tailor- made’ due to the Wavefront-guided treatment, which corrects not only the refractive errors but other aberrations of the eye. So, for the sharpest vision possible, custom Wavefront LASIK is the best-suited procedure available.

Types of Custom Wavefront LASIK

There are three types of basic custom LASIK surgeries:

• Wavefront-guided LASIK
• Wavefront-optimized LASIK
• Topography-guided LASIK

Custom Wavefront LASIK vs. Standard LASIK

• Patients who are candidates for standard LASIK surgery can also opt for Custom Wavefront LASIK.
• Conditions such as high prescription, thin cornea or larger than average pupils cannot be treated by conventional LASIK techniques. However, by using custom Wavefront LASIK, these conditions can be diagnosed properly and assisted for a better outcome of the surgery.
• Wavefront custom LASIK can use the IntraLase femtosecond Laser instead of a precision flap-making instrument (microkeratome), to create the corneal flap, thus making it an All Laser LASIK procedure.
• Conventional methods use 0.25 diopter (D) for the eyeglass prescription, which is not precise. While custom wavelThis evaluation for the refractive errors of the eyes makes custom Wavefront LASIK more precise. Also, it is more specific because measurements are gathered from many separate reference points instead of evaluating the eye to focus light from a unified point. That is instead of one lens prescription for the entire eye, it is determined from hundreds of reference points.
• In a recent study, Custom Wavefront LASIK had a success rate of 100% for many recorded patients to achieve a 20/20 vision the day after the surgery without glasses.
• Like other LASIK procedures, Custom Wavefront LASIK should take many factors into consideration, such as eyeglass prescription, the thickness of the cornea, current satisfaction of vision with eyeglasses, the expectation for the surgery and budget.
• Even though traditional LASIK methods cost less than custom Wavefront LASIK, one cannot ignore the fact that when it comes to treating the patient’s eye, even a minute difference can bring a huge change to the outcome of the surgery. That is why precision and specification are the two main features for custom Wavefront LASIK to be preferred over conventional LASIK procedures.

Advantages

Some of the advantages of Custom Wavefront LASIK are:

• Results in supervision due to in-depth screening
• More data about eye’ imperfections for a successful surgery
• Lack of discomfort
• Fast rehabilitation after surgery
• Retinal image resolution is improved
• Contrast can be improved
• Greater stability
• Overall quality of vision is improved
• Safe and accurate procedures
• Most of all, more patients can be considered candidates