CustomVue Lasik with Iris Registration
Southern Eye Associates is proud to introduce the most advanced technology in Laser Vision Correction. We offer the only VISX Star S4 fixed site CustomVue laser capable of Iris Registration in this region. VISX’s CustomVue TM wavefront-guided treatment is for patients with nearsightedness, farsightedness and/or mixed astigmatism.
Wavefront technology allows the physician to customize your LASIK treatment specifically for your eyes. Although millions of eyes may have the same refraction (glasses prescription), no two eyes will have the same wavefront pattern. Your unique wavefront pattern is programmed into the VISX Star S4 Excimer Laser, allowing customized LASIK treatment specific to your eye, increasing the precision and accuracy of LASIK.
Wavefront technology generates a computerized, 3-dimensional measurement of your eye. (We take a "picture" of your eye. You don't feel anything.) Wavefront measurements are 25 times more precise than previous measurement systems and can treat corneal imperfections that glasses or contacts cannot correct. This improves the quality of your vision after LASIK, especially at night.
Additionally, Southern Eye Associates combines “Iris Registration” with the CustomVue wavefront technology. Iris Registration technically allows the surgeon to apply the wavefront pattern in the most accurate and precise manner possible. While most other lasers allow the laser to track your eye movement in up and down/sideways movement, the addition of Iris Registration allows tracking of the rotational (clockwise/counterclockwise) orientation of the eye, plus more accurate placement of the center of the pupil. This system allows for a significantly increased precision of the application of the wavefront pattern. Southern Eye Associates is currently the only provider of Iris Registration in North East Arkansas.
Wavefront technology was initially designed to identify and correct microscopic aberrations in the complex telescopic systems used in astrophysics (astronomy), such as in the Hubbell telescope. By using a scanning laser, an optical system can be analyzed with accuracy never before possible. And by identifying subtle irregularities in complex optical systems, such as telescopes or your eye, microscopic adjustments can then be made in the optical system, allowing significant, previously unattainable improvements in the quality of the optical system. This technology has been adapted for analyzing the human eye, specifically for use in Laser Vision Correction.
Potential Benefits of Custom LASIK
Wavefront technology is groundbreaking because it has the potential to improve not only how much you can see, visual acuity measured by the standard 20/20 eye chart, but also how well you can see, in terms of contrast sensitivity and fine detail. This translates into a reduced risk of post-LASIK complications, such as glare, halos, and difficulty with night vision.
How much you see depends on vision defects known as lower-order aberrations associated with common refractive errors including myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism, which traditional LASIK can treat.
How well you see can depend on presence of the type and numbers of visual distortions known as higher-order aberrations, which can include irregularities other than common refractive errors. These higher-order aberrations can create problems such as decreased contrast sensitivity or night vision, glare, shadows, and halos. However, higher-order aberrations do not always affect vision. Unlike traditional LASIK, custom LASIK treats both lower- and higher-order aberrations.
Custom LASIK's advantage lies in the area of quality of vision:
- Greater chance of achieving 20/20 vision
- Greater chance of achieving better than 20/20 vision
- Reduced chance of losing best-corrected vision
- Reduced chance of losing visual quality or contrast sensitivity
- Reduced chance of night-vision disturbances and glare
Potential also exists for custom LASIK to treat those people who have lost best-corrected vision from any past refractive surgery: LASIK, PRK, RK, etc.
Patients with small pupils (under 5mm), with over 11 diopters of nearsightedness, 3 diopters of astigmatism or 3 diopters of farsightedness cannot be treated with Wavefront CustomVue. The primary drawback to Wavefront technology is the added cost of approximately $400.00 per eye. You are paying for extremely advanced technology and in my experience; the improvement in vision is worth the incremental expense.
Please call Southern Eye Associates Laser Vision Correction Center in Jonesboro, Arkansas if you have specific questions or to arrange a complimentary (free) consultation to see if you are a candidate for Wavefront CustomVue LASIK or PRK.
