Blade free LASIK is better LASIK

LASIK has been a breakthrough in vision correction in that it is quick, virtually pain free and in most cases eliminates the need for glasses or contact lenses.  The achilles heel of LASIK was always the first step, making a corneal flap.  Here was the non-laser part and in about 50% of cases this technique based on technology that is about 50 years old, is still in use today.  Basically a motor driven electric disposable razor blade cuts the cornea to remove the top layers and allows the laser to treat the inner cornea with the flap replaced and in hours the eye is functionally healed and vision is restored.  The cutting of this flap is in most cases reliable, but as one can imagine, sometimes there can be problems which include tears, holes, incomplete and mis-created or misplaced flaps.  Although these cases can be salvaged, there was a need for a better way to make flaps.

Enter Intralase in about 2001 when we had one of the first 3 of these devices in the world.  This high tech laser flap maker actually works quite differently than the blade.  A series of about a million tiny spots are created at a precise depth that when all interconnected form a tissue separation that resembles the flap of the microkeratome.  This method has evolved and is more accurate, less painful, and causes less dry eye and has better vision than the blade method.  There have been some patients with more inflammation from the laser, but this is a relatively mild and treatable problem.  Millions of laser vision procedures have now been performed using this method.  The main downside is that the equipment and its usage is more expensive than the microkeratome, and thus doctors much charge some extra to patients for this technology.

About 2 years ago we were the first center in North America to get an even newer femtosecond laser to do bladeless LASIK.  It is called the VisuMax and is the next generation in this type of technology.  It is even gentler, uses less energy, is much more accurate and precise in making flaps.  It is virtually pain free to the patient who experiences no sensation from the process and always makes well centered flaps.  When paired with the other Zeiss refractive product, the MEL 80 laser in the combined workstation, we have seen unparalleled results in our vision correction cases.  It can also be used to make the first step followed by other excimer lasers when this combination is more suitable for a particular patient.

Our center is one of the few in the world let alone the only in Denver Colorado with two femtosecond lasers and two excimer lasers so that we can tailor the treatment to a given patient based on their particular needs.  We have not had to use the metal microkeratome for a long, long time.