There are two important steps to LASIK eye surgery.
In Step One, your doctor creates a micro-thin flap of tissue on the outer layer of your eye, also known as the cornea. The flap is important for rapid healing, greater comfort and better vision. If it is too thick, too thin, or irregular, it could affect the quality of your vision. Although complications with LASIK surgery are rare, when they do occur, they are often associated with the use of a hand-held microkeratome blade in Step One.
The IntraLase laser makes LASIK surgery better by replacing your doctor’s hand-held microkeratome blade with a computer-guided laser that delivers micron-level accuracy over 100 percent greater than a microkeratome.* This gives you the greatest assurance you need that Step One of LASIK eye surgery will be accurate, safe and a first step towards giving you the best LASIK result possible.
In Step Two, your doctor folds open the flap so that an excimer laser can be used on the inner cornea to correct your vision. Your flap is then returned to its original position where it seals without stitches.
Step One is important to faster healing, greater comfort and better vision.
The INTRALASE® laser is a more precise and safer method for creating the flap in Step One and is an essential component to making both standard and custom LASIK surgeries better.
*** Ming Wang, M.D., Ph.D.: Femtosecond technology: Is now the time to buy? Refractive Eyecare for Ophthalmologists, May 2003;5:7.
