Custom Vue Lasek Prk
Personalized Laser Vision Correction
CustomVue Lasek laser eye surgery is a new excimer laser technology, where a personal and unique laser vision correction is designed for each individual eye. Just like a fingerprint, each person's vision is 100 percent unique to their eyes. Up till now, a -2.00 diopter treatment for two different people has been the same. But no two people's corneal curvatures and aberrations are exactly the same, even if their prescriptions are the same. With the CustomVue system (wavefront-guided technology), this singularity is taken into account when designing a personalised laser pattern, and no two "treatment prescriptions" are identical. It therefore makes sense that better results can be expected for each individual with this system.
The VISX CustomVue Lasek treatment consists of four sections:
1. The VISX CustomVue Diagnostic workstation:
All CustomVue candidates receive thorough diagnostic screening using special equipment:
The Orbscan II corneal topography analyses the entire cornea and measures the corneal curvature and thickness.
WaveScan-based digital technology determines the presence of pre-operative higher-order aberrations and unique imperfections in each individual's vision. It produces a detailed map of the eye - much like a fingerprint. No two maps are the same - in fact, each treatment is tailored to the unique characteristics of the individual's eye. The information captured using the WaveScan technology is transferred to the laser, providing a new level of precision and accuracy. This new level of measurement provides 25 times more precision than with standard methods used for glasses and contact lenses.
Based on this complete diagnostic information, the surgeon is then able to determine how the patient will benefit from CustomVue Lasek treatment.
If significant higher-order aberrations are present, such as found with irregular astigmatism, CustomVue Lasek treatment would improve the quality of vision. The optimised optical zone used with CustomVue reduces the potential for visual disturbances, such as halos and glare at night. High myopes or candidates with thin corneas will benefit from the Lasek surgery's proven ability to optimise the amount of tissue removed for a given level of correction. This means that less tissue has to be removed to achieve the desired effect (saves up to 30% corneal tissue).
2. The CustomVue Treatment Calculation Software
The three main things the surgeon will take into consideration when calculating the individual treatment is pupil size, pre-operative higher-order aberrations and corneal thickness. A personalised nomogram to ensure consistency in refractive surgery results has also been developed.
3. Creating a flap
A very thin 50 micron epithelial flap is made with a specialised technique and special instruments, enhancing the safety of the procedure.
4. The VISX Excimer Laser
A specific type of laser, with a very small spot size of 1 mm is used for the CustomVue Lasek treatment. This is called a "flying spot laser". An eye tracking system is also used to follow any small eye movements during the ablation.
Iris registration technology replaces previous methods of attaining accurate alignment. It is the first fully automated method of aligning and registering wavefront corrections for CustomVue Lasek treatments. It centres the treatment correctly, independent of changes in the pupil centre from measurement to treatment.
The laser uses a very small beam, which means that less energy is used to laser the cornea, resulting in more accurate ablations. This laser system is therefore safer, more predictable and more accurate.
Advantages of the CustomVue Lasek treatment system include truly personalised eye laser treatment, enabling the surgeon to use the widest treatment zone possible, while preserving the most corneal tissue possible (saves up to 30% corneal tissue). This leads to quicker visual recovery time, less fluctuations in vision during the recovery time, fewer problems with glare and halos at night, and less chance of regression and the need for enhancement procedures.
Recently, the FDA has approved the CustomVue Lasek procedure as the first wavefront-guided treatment for myopia, hyperopia and mixed astigmatism. Better results are expected for every patient, but in particular for patients with irregular astigmatism and thin corneas.
Who Can Benefit From Customvue Wavefront-guided Laser?
- Patients with large amounts of aberrations
- Patients with irregular astigmatism
- Patients with large pupils
- Patients with high myopia
- Patients with thin corneas
- Patients who have residual refractive errors after previous refractive laser surgery, who's corneas are too thin for Lasik surgery
What To Expect After The Procedure
- Your eye(s) may be painful and irritated for five days after surgery.
- Unlike with Lasik surgery where vision rehabilitation takes only a few days, your vision is expected to be blurry for the first two weeks after surgery, and you may experience some difficulty with focusing in general, especially with reading.
- Normal vision will be regained after about one month.
- Your eyes will feel scratchy and dry during the first few days.
- Dryness may be experienced for the first three months (less than with Lasik!)
- You may feel that your eyes get tired more quickly during the first three to four weeks, especially after prolonged close-up work like reading or computer work.
- You will experience some light sensitivity and your eyes may tear more than normal.
- You may experience some problems with night glare and halo's around lights.
- Your vision will fluctuate during the first few weeks.
- Visual recovery is slow and may only be perfect after four weeks or more.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any further queries with regard to CustomVue Lasek or Lasek laser eye surgery in general.
