Diagnosing Refractive Errors: Traditional vs. Custom LASIK

Traditional LASIK diagnoses refractive errors with a phoropter, the device used by your eye doctor during an eye exam. You look through the eyepiece and your doctor asks you to read a vision chart through a series of different lenses.

A phoropter diagnoses the lower-order aberrations, which are:

· Myopia (nearsightedness)

· Hyperopia (farsightedness)

· Astigmatism (blurry at all distances)

These lower-order aberrations come from just two different abnormalities of the cornea, when in fact there are a number of other possible abnormalities. Higher-order aberrations are vision distortions caused by subtle, unique eye irregularities that cannot be diagnosed with a phoropter.

In the custom LASIK technique, Wavefront technology uses laser light to measure the minutest irregularities in your eye. The straight beams of light pass through your eye structures, which distort the laser light.

Once the laser light reaches your retina, it is reflected back to the Wavefront sensor, which records the changes made to the light by your eye’s irregularities. Ultimately, Wavefront lets your eye surgeon plan a customized reshaping of corneal tissue.An experienced LASIK surgeon can determine whether you can benefit from custom LASIK.

To find out if you are a candidate for custom LASIK, please contact an experienced eye surgeon in your area.