Technology
Our Lasers
Hale Vision Laser & Implant Center now features the
Visx
Star S4 and the
Intralase FS femtosecond
laser systems as the heart of their advanced treatment system.
Lasik is a two step process and it is our goal to make each step
as safe and precise as possible. This has evolved into an
all-laser process, utilizing a separate laser in
each step of the process. These two systems will be discussed
below.
On May 23, 2003, the United States Food and Drug Administration
approved VISX CustomVue laser vision correction for the treatment
of nearsightedness and astigmatism, a technological advancement
that sets a new standard for vision correction, with the potential
to enable better vision than contacts or glasses, even at night.
VISX Star S4 Active Trak
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Intralase FS Laser
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While Dr. Hale is certified on several different laser systems, he
has consistently favored the Visx laser system since its
introduction in 1996, and has been an active physician trainer for
the Visx system for many years. Our state-of-the-art surgical
facility,
SIGHTLab, possesses the most advanced
model of the Visx system, the Visx Star S4 Active Trak system and
along with the recent installation of the lastest wavefront
scanning software, we have the most advanced treatment system
available in the United States.
The Visx platform received FDA approval for the treatment of
Hyperopic Astigmatism using LASIK on 12/15/04 and Mixed Astigmatism
using LASIK on 3/18/05, and the final piece of the treatment puzzle,
High Myopia came on September 2, 2005. This makes the Visx Star S4
the only system available in the US able to treat mild, moderate and
high nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and mixed
astigmatism. With the further addition of the Iris Registration
system, we feel that the Visx Star S4 IR system is unsurpassed for
range and accuracy among all the excimer laser systems available in
the US.
New “Custom” LASIK Individualizes Vision Correction
Study Shows Better Quality Results of Wavefront-guided LASIK
The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
Iris Registration
On August 19, 2005, Dr. Hale became the first refractive surgeon
in Wisconsin to install and use the new Visx Star S4 IR system. IR
or Iris Registration is the latest step in CustomVue technology
pioneered by Visx. The idea is to ensure the best alignment of the
laser treatment pattern possible. The eye tends to rotate when a
person changes from the seated to the lying position. This is
often a fairly small amount but at times can be quite significant.
In the past, it has been the surgeon’s responsibility to
adjust the patients’ position to correct this rotation.
Rotation can occur when the patient changes from the seated to the
lying position. This can result in a misalignment of the laser
treatment pattern.
While the surgeon must always be prepared to make any necessary
adjustments, the IR system aids the surgeon in this task. It
starts at the examination, when an infrared image of the iris is
obtained in the seated position and analyzed for the various
characteristic features of the individuals’ iris. At the
time of surgery, another infrared image is taken when lying under
the laser and these images are compared. Any recognized rotation
is then compensated for by rotating the treatment pattern in the
laser software prior to treatment.
The Iris Registration system recognizes and corrects and
misalignment in the laser treatment pattern.
The better the alignment of the laser treatment the higher the
quality of the surgical result.
Image degradation occurs when the treatment is not properly aligned. The lower
row shows the effect on the image quality with increasing rotation from 1 to 30 degrees.
In December of 1999, the Intralase FS laser was granted 510-K
approval for creation of LASIK flaps. This marked a new era of
vision correction technology. While this technology represents a
revolution in surgical devices, Dr. Hale actively followed this
technology until it evolved into its current form. This represents
the first of the Star Trek era technology where we use energy to
produce an incision rather than a steel blade. Plasma energy is
delivered in pulses at the rate 15,000 per second to create a
precise, corneal flap that can be customized for each patient
depending on his needs. This differs from the handheld, bladed
microkeratome that creates a flap thats shape is often altered by
the pre-existing shape of the eye. The Intralase is not sensitive
to the pre-existing eye shape and therefore has a lower
complication rate in the area of flap creation. The Intralase also
creates a flap that has more uniform thickness than flaps created
by a bladed device. This is important when we are attempting to
make extremely small shape corrections with our second step, the
excimer (Visx) treatment laser. The combination of the Intralase
and an excimer laser (Visx style) has been scientifically shown to
produce the best possible LASIK results.
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