Own The Night

When laser vision was first conceived, an optical engineer named Dr. Charles Munnerlyn developed a mathematical model for reshaping the front of the eye in the 1980's to correct nearsightedness and he received a patent for his work.  I met Dr. Munnerlyn recently and he is still very interested in the field of laser vision correction.  His formula was to flatten the cornea the correct amount to achieve a desired result without much emphasis on real world issues such a night vision.  As it turned out, this formula worked quite well and was the basis of a company and a laser very familiar to many called VISX.  Without delving into a tremendous amount of detail, it became understood over time that although these lasers could correct vision predictably and became FDA approved (and still are) there were a number of patients who complained of problems with their night vision. 

At night, the pupil is more dilated, and the design of the treatment left an abrupt change from the treated to the non-treated portion of the cornea, which resulted in glare, halos, and night time myopia in some patients.  The treatment was also very dependent on the quality of the beam of laser light, since these were broad beam lasers, and the imprint of the laser pulse affected the quality of the results.  Newer lasers such as the Allegretto which is marketed by Alcon, and the MEL 80 which is marketed by Zeiss, use a small scanning spot to create the treatment.  The plan that these lasers follow is slightly different than the original Munnerlyn algorithm in that they put some extra pulses at the periphery of the treatment.  The reasons for this are many but the result is that these treatments maintain the naturally prolate or curved shape of the eye to a much greater extent than their predecessors.

It is important to understand, that just like the FAA approving jets which can continue to be flown when much more modern jets are available, once the FDA approves a laser, it is approved forever unless some problem comes up that gets it disapproved which rarely is done.  Therefore there are treatments being performed on patients with lasers from various generations  that all meet basic approval guidelines, but have significantly different real world patient outcomes.  Our experience, and that of many others is that the previously mentioned laser brands (Alcon and Zeiss) create results that not only give most patients 20/20 eye chart results, but also give most patients 20/happy results.  The real test of this is the vision that a patient experiences under low light conditions or at night time.

While no laser can correct vision as perfectly as natural vision, and while there is always some healing period after a treatment, the results that have been achieved with these newer technologies has been a major qualitative improvement over what was available a few years ago.  When paired with the 'all laser' method of flap creation by Intralase or even better by the latest generation VisuMax, we have a platform that not only gives excellent visions, but excellent quality of vision both day and night.

It is therefore important for potential patients to investigate not only the experience, and the quality of care that they will receive from a given provider, but also to evaluate the technology as a basis for making this important decision.  We are confident that when compared "apples to apples" that the cost for LASIK will not only appear to be secondary but also that there will not be any provider with the technology which we provide at a lower cost.

To put this into perspective, in 1995 I helped to design an excimer laser that was granted FDA approval (The Dishler Excimer Laser), and if we wanted, we could still be using that laser to treat patients today.  While it was state of the art for its time, and we had many excellent results, it was not nearly as advanced as the lasers we offer to our patients today.  Fortunately,  the status of laser technology has matured and we do not expect to see similar major differences over the next 15 years.  With our vast experience and the understanding of the science behind laser vision correction, we believe that we can bring high quality laser vision correction to appropriate candidates who visit our center.  We enjoy referrals from a wide geographic area in spite of the fact that so many laser providers are between us and so many of our patients.

I invite you to watch today's interview on Matino TV KDVR channel 31 where you can hear how a truck driver is able to see at night just two weeks after his laser vision correction at our facility.  Here is the link to paste in your browser:

http://www.kdvr.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=3f820665-3aa4-4499-819b-1052f25cfdc3&src=front