Is wavefront laser eye surgery is worth the extra cost?

Studies have compared wavefront-guided lasik to conventional lasik.  Anyone undergoing wavefront guided laser eye surgery is more likely to achieve 20/20 vision without glasses or contact lenses than those treated without wavefront technology.

With wavefront technology there is less chance of suffering from problems such as a loss of visual quality, a loss of contrast sensitivity and problems with night vision.

All eyes have some sort of imperfection, called an aberration. It is the degree of aberration that matters.

Two "aberrations"

Lower-order aberrations are the ones you hear about most often - myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism.

There are also higher-order aberrations, which account for about 15% of eye problems, and have exotic names such as coma, spherical aberration and trefoil.

These aberrations cause problems that can include difficulty seeing at night, halos, issues with glare and blurred vision, and account for about 15% of eye problems.

Simply put, lower order aberration control how much you see, while higher order aberrations control how well you see.

Unfortunately, ordinary lasik surgery increases the chance of higher order aberrations. With wavefront laser eye surgery higher order aberrations still increase, but not as much as with conventional lasik.

What is Wavefront Technology?

Wavefront technology is a system that collects information about the eye from hundreds of separate points over the central 6 millimetre area of the cornea. This creates a "map" that is specific to the eye being measured.

This information can then be linked to the laser to enable a completely customised and very accurate surgical procedure.

A further advantage is that wavefront can help identify patients who are not good candidates for Lasik surgery.

What is a wavefront?

Wavefront technology has been used by astronomers for many years, but the first wavefront mapping of the eye was done in 1994. Towards the end of 2002 the Food & Drug Administration approved the Custom Cornea Wavefront Lasik.

In essence, a bundle of light rays enters the eye. When the light enters the cornea, the very front of those light rays is perfectly flat - like a sheet of paper. In a perfect eye, the light will be reflected back and exit still flat.

But of course, the light passes through an imperfect crystalline lens (in the eye) and so is distorted when it emerges.

This distortion creates the “map” that tells the specialist what problems exist within the eye and how they can best be corrected.   It also provides the information used to create the prescription that will be used to reshape the cornea..

There are limits to the use of wavefront laser eye surgery. If you are too myopic or too hyperopic, or have too much astigmatism, you will probably not be a candidate.

Thin corneas

Thin corneas will be a problem, while having abnormally-large pupils may increase the risk of ending up with poor vision at night.

There is also the issue of cost. Most, if not all, doctors charge more for wavefront laser eye surgery than for conventional. As a rough guide, expect to pay about $3000 and up per eye.

In summary - wavefront technology offers precise and individualized prescriptions for Lasik eye surgery patients.

If you meet the requirements, it also offers an increased probability that the resultant wavefront laser eye surgery will provide a successful outcome with fewer side effects.