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Wavefront LASIK / Custom LASIK Surgery
The Allegretto WAVE Eye-Q Excimer Laser
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Custom LASIK is the most advanced form of laser vision correction, employing information about the patient's prescription and ocular anatomy beyond that used in first-generation LASIK systems. By customizing the treatment plan to the unique features of the patient's eye, Custom LASIK can produce superb distance vision -- day and night. The principal breakthrough of Custom LASIK is, in fact, the preservation or even improvement of the patient's post-operative night vision, essentially eliminating the glare, halo and other artifacts that characterized the performance of first-generation LASIK systems.
Our "All Laser" LASIK treatment solution is based exclusively on Wavefront technology. At ScottHyver Visioncare, we offer both Wavefront-Optimized LASIK and Wavefront-Guided LASIK on the industry-leading, Allegretto WAVEŽ Eye-Q Excimer Laser.
The Effects of Spherical Aberration on Night Vision
Wavefront-Optimized LASIK was designed from the start to address the principal cause of night vision disturbance: spherical aberration. This is a condition that causes light at the periphery of the cornea to enter the eye when the pupil expands at night, causing glare and halos.
Spherical aberration can be present naturally or may be induced by older generation LASIK systems, whose lasers are unable to precisely follow the curvature of the cornea during treatment. As a result, at the edge or periphery of the circular treatment zone on the eye, there's a tiny ridge, formed at the point where the laser stops and the untreated cornea continues. At night, when the pupil opens wide, any light that hits this peripheral ridge scatters into the eye, interfering with your vision, and causing night disturbances such as halos, glare, starburst and other visual artifacts.
Wavefront-Optimized LASIK Solves the Spherical Aberration Problem
The German engineers who designed the Allegretto WAVEŽ Eye-Q Excimer Laser explicitly understood the spherical aberration phenomenon, and engineered the platform to address it. Using Wavefront-Optimized techniques, the WAVEŽ Eye-Q laser automatically compensates for the unique curvature of the patient's cornea, leaving a "prolate" shape that mirrors the cornea's pre-operative geometry. As a result, Allegretto solved the "peripheral ridge" problem, giving patients better post-operative vision, day and night. In fact, the WAVEŽ Eye-Q is the only LASIK system recognized by the FDA that is able to preserve or even improve the patient's night vision.
In addition to Wavefront-Optimized LASIK, Dr. Hyver also offers Wavefront-Guided LASIK on the WAVEŽ Eye-Q laser. In cases where the patient has an unusual higher-order aberration map, Dr. Hyver may recommend Wavefront-Guided rather than Wavefront-Optimized LASIK. However, the vision results of these two technologies are essentially the same, with the Wavefront-Optimized solution producing a slightly higher rate of patients seeing 20/16 (i.e., better than 20/20).
If you have any questions or need additional information on any of the above, please call 800.454.2747 and ask for a patient counselor.
  
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