Quality of Our Lasik Eye Surgery Laser Equipment

Excimer Laser

The Excimer Laser is one of the greatest inventions in ophthalmology. The Excimer Laser is the device that physically corrects your prescription during surgery. Because laser vision correction is based on the microscopic removal of corneal tissue at the molecular level, it is impossible to achieve this type of accuracy manually. No other device has provided patients the opportunity to reduce or eliminate their dependency on glasses and contacts. Although many people perceive laser technology to be the same, there are vast differences between one laser versus another. One question that should be raised prior to your surgery is whether the laser being used is the newest in laser vision correction technology. By having your eyes treated with the newest in laser vision technology it increases your chances for a successful outcome.

Eyetracker Technology

The ALLEGRETTO WAVE® Eyetracker

Not all eyetrackers are created equally. Ensure that the eyetracker has a sampling rate faster than 200 Hertz. The reason why this is so important is because your eye can twitch at a rate of 60 Hz. If your eye twitches faster or at the same speed as the eyetracker then the eyetracker may not be able to get the appropriate readings of the movement of the eye. In turn, the laser may not be able to place the right pulse of the laser in the appropriate section of the cornea because of the lack of information. What is also extremely important is the ability of the laser to react to the information being sent to it from the eyetracker. The response time of the laser must be very fast to ensure that each laser pulse is placed exactly on the appropriate part of the cornea. Even if the laser can sample the movement of the eye 1000 times but the laser reacts slowly to this information, the result is that the laser may be placing pulses on areas of the cornea based on old information.

The ALLEGRETTO WAVE® Excimer Laser encompasses both a 250 Hz eyetracker with the ability to react between 4 to 8 ms. This optimizes the ability of each pulse being placed on the appropriate spot on the cornea reducing erroneous misplaced pulses of the laser more common on older laser technology.

Beam Size and Profile

A small diameter laser beam or also known as spot size is very important for both accuracy and smoothness. An ideal beam size is approximately 1mm or less. If the size of the laser beam is larger the result is that the beam is too large to make fine adjustments throughout the cornea. Imagine filling a fishbowl with marbles compared to filling is with sand. The marbles allow gaps while the sand contours and fills the fishbowl exactly. While beam size is critical so is the type of laser beam that is being used. A gaussian beam allows for the smoothest corneal surface as compared to non-gaussian beams.

Optical Zone

Optical Zone is the term used to describe the size of the treated area of the laser that will be applied to the surface of the cornea. Older generation lasers typically can only treat pupils no larger than 6.5mm since the largest optical zone they can use is 6.5 mm. If your pupils are larger than 6.5 mm then your chances for night vision problems increase significantly if your eyes are not treated with a laser that can provided larger optical zone ranges. Only the ALLEGRETTO WAVE Excimer Laser combines optical zones from 5.5mm to 8mm. This allows the physician to customize your treatment to maximize your desired outcome and reduce or eliminate night vision problems.

Is ALLEGRETTO WAVE® right for me?

ALLEGRETTO WAVE® expands the boundaries of candidacy for LASIK. However, there are certain people who are less than ideal candidates for LASIK and ALLEGRETTO WAVE®. These patients are encouraged to speak with their doctor to find the best vision correction option:

Under age 21
Pregnant or nursing
Glaucoma or high blood pressure
Keratoconus, a corneal irregularity
Inflammation of the eye (uveitis, blepharitis, or iritis)
Herpes simplex that has infected your eye
Previous severe injuries to the eye
Corneal scars or infections
Unstable refraction
Other diseases of the eye such as AMD, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, or others
Patients with very large pupils, thin corneas, or dry eyes

During the consultation with your doctor, please be sure to mention all medications you are taking and any medical conditions you have that might affect the success of laser correction.

1100 South College St.
Suite 108
Auburn, AL. 36832
334-826-8778
800-698-4746
800(MY VISION)
Toll Free for AL and FL ONLY! All others call direct line.