Femtosecond Laser Technology - The Safer Laser Eye Surgery

Laser eye surgery is one of the top elective surgeries that people choose to have today. However many people that could benefit from LASIK don't undergo the treatment because worry about the safety of the procedure or unpredictable results of traditional LASIK.

The good news is that traditional LASIK is still one of the safest elective surgeries you can get and the better news is that there is a development in LASIK that will increase the not only the safety of the procedure but also the predictability of the outcome of the laser eye surgery.

In traditional LASIK, a corneal "flap" that resembles a small 3-sided-"door" using a traditional microkeratome laser. The flap is opened and the surgeon will remove excess tissue with an excimer laser to make the shape of the eye more round resulting in perfected vision.

A huge positive stride in LASIK surgery is called the "Femtosecond Laser" this tool was developed precisely to create the corneal flap. The Femtosecond Lasers have large advantages over the traditional microkeratome lasers that are most often used.

The Femtosecond lasers can create highly precise flap which in turn preserves the corneal tissue. Also the cut of the flaps needed to help correct the vision of the patient can be completely customized. This includes not only the size of the flap but also the thickness and even the angle of the cut. Whatever will best benefit the patient's vision can now be done so the LASIK surgery process can be even more personalized to fit the individual needs of every single patient.

Because of the accuracy of the flap cut and the precision now available for the surgeon; the Femto-LASIK method nearly eliminates common complications patients experience with traditional LASIK as well as lowering the risk of infection after the laser eye surgery. Another feature that lessens infection is because Femtosecond lasers preclude the possibility of reuse, and consequent cross-infection, the procedure becomes much more aseptic. After surgery, most patients prefer the Femto-LASIK method for vision correction and most patients report better vision post-operatively than patients that have undergone traditional LASIK.