Laser Vision Correction Technology

The LADAR Vision 4000 Excimer laser is the most advanced laser for refractive surgery currently available in the United States. It has a number of unique features, all of which contribute to superior results and lower risk of complications. These features include:

Small Spot Treatment: The LADAR Vision applies very small (less than 1 millimeter) treatment spots in a precise pattern controlled by a computer. This results in a much smoother treatment surface. The other available lasers are either "broad beam" lasers (which treat a large area at one time) or have much larger "spots" - 3 millimeters or more.

• This small spot feature is much less likely to produce "central islands" (a small "bump" or elevated spot in the center of the treatment area) which usually results in decreased vision or double vision, and which is difficult to correct even with re-treatment.

Large Treatment Zones: The LADAR Vision has the largest treatment zone options of any laser currently available. Treatment zone size must be larger than the size of the pupil in dim light to avoid significant nighttime glare and haloes. This complication can be severe enough to make nighttime driving difficult or impossible. The LADAR Vision is the only laser with treatment zone up to 8 millimeters for nearsightedness and 9 millimeters for farsightedness.

Treatment Options: The LADAR Vision, unlike many other lasers, is FDA approved to treat all prescription types, including nearsightedness with or without astigmatism, farsightedness with or without astigmatism, and mixed astigmatism.

True Active Tracking: During the laser treatment, which may last for a few seconds up to two minutes, depending on your prescription, there will always be small uncontrollable eye movements. The LADAR Vision checks the position of the eye 4000 times a second and adjusts the treatment so it is always perfectly centered.

• Although other lasers claim to have "active tracking", they do not share this feature. They do check for eye position and movement (although at a much slower rate), but they do NOT adjust the treatment to follow eye movement. They merely shut off if the eye wanders too far.
• Decentered treatments may result in irregular astigmatism, ghost images or double vision, all of which are very difficult to correct, even with retreatments.

Custom Cornea Wave front-guided LASIK

Wavefront-guided ablation uses advanced optical principles borrowed from Hubble telescope technology to measure refractive error of the eye. Wavefront technology measures the same refractive information as is measured for conventional laser ablation but in addition, wavefront technology measures higher order aberrations - more subtle refractive errors that can't be measured with standard lens fitting equipment.

Wavefront-guided ablations correct refractive errors (like nearsightedness and astigmatism) just like conventional ablation patterns but then go one step further in trying to correct other smaller aberrations in the optical system of the eye in an attempt to yield better quality vision. Wavefront guided ablation has been shown to reduce post-operative higher order aberrations in clinical studies. In a significant subset of these patients, the reduction in higher order aberrations with wavefront-guided ablation has translated to better perceived quality of vision and/or less induced glare and starburst symptoms relative to patients treated with conventional ablation. It is important to understand however that most but not all patients recognize a distinct visual quality difference between wavefront-guided and conventional laser refractive surgery. Studies done to date suggest that patients with larger pupils and higher amounts of correction may be more likely to benefit from wavefront-guided over conventional laser ablation.