Have a Happy & Healthy New Year! - the Parklander

MEDICINE & HEALTH
LASIK WITHOUT A BLADE:
Advanced Surface Ablation (ASA)
Ten years have now passed since Laser Vision Correction was approved by
the US Food and Drug Administration. During this decade, millions of
patients have chosen this procedure and have been able to reduce or eliminate
their dependence on glasses or contact lenses in the USA and around
the world. Most of them will tell you that LASIK is the best thing that
they have ever done for themselves. Many others have been told that they
are not good candidates for the procedure or have expressed fear of the
surgical blade in the flap maker (microkeratome). And so they have waited.
Perhaps ASA is what they have been waiting for.
The original use of the Excimer laser treated refractive errors by the
removal of the surface skin of the eye and the use of the laser to bring
about a permanent change in the shape of the corneal subsurface and
the skin grew back quickly. This is called PRK and is still a frequently
performed method of producing laser vision correction.
A few years later, LASIK was invented. In LASIK, a microkeratome
with a sharp blade is used to create a flap into the front part of the cornea,
the flap is lifted and the laser energy is delivered to the sub-surface tissue.
The corneal flap is replaced at the end of the treatment. The big advancement
in LASIK is the speed of visual recovery and the greater comfort
that LASIK provides over PRK.
Advanced Surface Ablation is one step further in safety and reliability.
In ASA, the outer skin of the cornea is gently lifted (not destroyed) and
the laser is applied to the sub-skin layers of the cornea. The skin may be
re-attached to the cornea or removed at the end of the treatment.
The skin flap of ASA is an advancement over the corneal flap of
LASIK in that the skin flap is virtually without complication. Any skin
flap irregularity can be discarded along with the corneal skin and the corresponding
laser surgery can be completed without concern. The eye will
reform new skin in a matter of a few days.
50 JANUARY 2007
LASIK ASA
The benefits of ASA are greatly increased by coupling the corneal skinflap
technique with a Custom Laser Treatment that is guided by Wavefront
analysis of each person’s individual eyeglasses needs. Custom
Treatment or Wave-front guided treatment has been proven to have a
higher likelihood of 20/20 or better visual results than has traditional
LASIK. ASA is particularly useful in patients with thin corneas or dry
eyes who might otherwise not be good candidates for LASIK.
Everything one does or doesn’t do has some degree of risk. Glasses
might break or cut a person’s eye and contact lenses might be lost or cause
a serious eye infection. Interestingly, the US Army is offering free surface
ablation laser vision correction to troops who are likely to be sent to Iraq.
Imagine the risk to a soldier in a combat situation who has just broken or
lost his only pair of eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Advanced Surface Ablation combined with Wave-front guided custom
treatment provides the best and safest of all of the refractive surgery
options available today.
You can learn more about Advanced Surface Ablation with Wave-front
guided Custom Ablation and the other refractive surgery options available
to you at www.FLEI.com, by doing an internet search, or by calling Fort
Lauderdale Eye Institute.