Bladeless LASIK
Contoura™ Custom and Blade-Free LASIK
Although conventional laser eye surgery has helped millions of people achieve clearer, sharper vision, many potential patients have avoided surgery due to fears about the mechanical blade that was used in the first step of the procedure. Dr. Helen Wu now offers a blade-free custom surgery procedure at our refractive surgery center.
Through the use of ultra-precise lasers and advanced computer software, our patients can now undergo safe, effective vision correction surgery without the risks associated with a mechanical blade. Our patients are experiencing high satisfaction with their visual outcomes. While some patients still report experiencing night vision changes or dry eyes post-operatively, the symptoms are less significant than they were prior to surgery and tend to decrease over time.
Mapping the Eye
Prior to surgery, the Wavelight Topolyzer VARIO is used to map the cornea and enables visualization of vision defects that are unique to each patient’s eye. These defects, or aberrations, can cause vision problems such as halos or glare even when a patient’s visual acuity is 20/20. The refractive surgery team enters data from the testing equipment into the computer that guides the excimer laser. Topography-guided imaging can help the surgeon correct for aberrations and achieve a better result.
Femtosecond Blade-Free Technology
The outstanding results and safety of blade-free LASIK are due to the Wavelight®FS200 technology. The system consists of two components: the software and the extraordinarily precise femtosecond laser. The first step of surgery is the creation of the corneal flap.
A femtosecond laser uses energy pulses to create tiny bubbles of air and water to separate the corneal tissue without the use of a blade. The high-speed laser accomplishes flap creation in about 20 seconds.
Learn More About Laser Vision Technology
Why Choose Bladeless LASIK?
Blade-free technology is more comfortable and safe for the patient.
Some of its specific advantages are:
- The ability to program corneal thickness enables more patients to have surgery
- A decrease in dry eye symptoms
- A decrease in corneal abrasions and epithelial ingrowth
- Better positioning of the corneal flap leads to faster recovery
- Excimer Laser Technology
In the second step, the surgeon lifts back the corneal flap to access the deeper corneal tissue. Dr. Wu uses the Wavelight ® EX500 excimer laser to reshape the corneal contour. The Contoura system incorporates the information from testing and mapping to guide the laser with great precision. This eliminates refractive (focus) errors and ocular surface irregularities.
Advantages of New Excimer Laser Technology
Technology has advanced and improved the safety, efficacy, and predictability of corneal surgery. The excimer laser is now so advanced that it can treat nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and a combination of the three.
Dr. Wu chooses to use the most advanced excimer laser with a wide range of FDA approvals in order to offer her patients a truly customizable procedure. The time has never been better to have a LASIK or PRK procedure!
Custom Wavefront and Topo Guided LASIK
If you are interested in receiving vision correction that is tailored to your individual needs, you should consider undergoing custom wavefront surgery at our laser facility in Waltham. Wavefront-guided and now Wavefront Optimized are both available to patients. Custom iLASIK™ and Custom Contoura go beyond traditional surgery.
Contoura Custom LASIK is a Wavefront Optimized surgery using detailed measurements of the curvature of the front surface of your eye, preserving the natural aspheric shape of your cornea. Preserving the cornea’s natural shape reduces the risk of a higher-order aberration called spherical aberration, which can occur naturally in an eye or can be caused by other types of laser vision correction procedures. Spherical aberration often causes halos around lights and other night vision problems.
Contoura Vision is a topography-guided treatment designed to provide surgeons the ability to perform more personalized laser procedures for patients with nearsightedness, or nearsightedness with astigmatism, based on the unique corneal topography of each eye. In 2014, more than 630,000 procedures were performed in the US alone.
The goal with any of the procedures we offer to our patients in Boston is to provide the best procedure for your unique visual and lifestyle needs with the least risks and most benefits. Our services go well beyond laser vision correction. FDA-approved wavefront-optimized systems include the WaveLight Allegretto Wave Eye-Q Excimer Laser System (Alcon).
