Conventional LASIK was the standard of care in the beginning of laser refractive surgery; there were no other options. Now with Custom Cornea ability we are able to “customize” the laser procedure. Conventional LASIK is an excellent procedure with highly accurate outcomes. Custom Cornea or Wavefront guided treatment is even better. Custom Cornea goes beyond reshaping the cornea based only on the prescription. The Ladar Wave wavefront device uses a software program that analyzes the whole optical path of the eye. The treatment is then tailored to correct all measured aberrations. It treats problems that were not previously taken into consideration. These problems are called higher order aberrations. Custom Cornea laser treatment can treat these aberrations and reduce the induction of new aberrations. A good analogy is a difference between a very good television picture and a high definition television picture.
The Ladar Wave wavefront device takes an image of the cornea with the different higher and lower aberrations. It then creates a map of the cornea Match - the wavefront map for each eye is transferred to the laser system and converted to a guide for the laser. Right before treatment begins the map is computer-matched with the eyes exact position, so the treatment is extremely precise. The cornea is precisely reshaped guided by the data from the wavefront map.* Remember - it doesn’t matter if the patient is having LASIK or PRK - the treatment of the laser is the same! The only difference is how we are getting to the layer of the cornea we are treating.
