Bladeless LASIK Surgery
Bladeless LASIK, is an all-laser procedure that enhances the safety and success of traditional LASIK. While traditional LASIK utilizes a hand-held microkeratome blade to create the corneal flap needed to access the inner layers of the cornea, bladeless LASIK uses a femtosecond laser to precisely and gently create the flap. By eliminating the use of the blade, bladeless LASIK reduced the risk of complications and improved the precision of laser vision correction.
No-Cut LASIK eliminates the need for any cutting at all. Consequently, it provides the safest and most patient friendly option to our patients. At the time of the procedure, a drop is placed on the cornea that allows the eye surgeon to brush aside its outermost cells. The excimer laser then reshapes the cornea to correct for nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism or presbyopia. Once the excimer laser has reshaped the cornea, a bandage contact lens is placed to cover and protect the eye. Patients wear the contact lenses day and night for a few days, until the surface cells on the cornea have grown back. The bandage contact lenses are then removed in-office in the course of the first follow-up after No-Cut LASIK.
Advanced Surface Ablation (Asa)
Since its approval in 1999, LASIK had served as the procedure of choice for most refractive surgeons, as it allowed patients to achieve functional vision quite rapidly, at times even a few days after treatment. But, LASIK requires cutting the cornea to produce a superficial flap at a depth of about one-fifth of the cornea’s thickness. As a consequence, some side effects may take longer to resolve. The development of new types of refractive surgeries, collectively referred to as advanced surface ablations (ASA), has allowed doctors and patients to avoid the need for any cutting at all. These treatments include, among others: LASEK, epi-LASIK or e-LASIK; SBK; and the gold standard that is outperforming them all, advanced PRK (photorefractive keratectomy), or No-Cut LASIK. Visual improvement with advanced PRK now closely rivals LASIK, usually taking a few days to a week. The great advantage is that there are none of the side effects associated with LASIK. More and more surgeons now prefer no-cut laser vision correction, as visual outcomes are now exactly the same as with LASIK.
NO-CUT LASIK VS. CONVENTIONAL LASIK RESULTS
NO-CUT LASIK has been used safely and successfully on millions of patients. One of the biggest advantages of the NO-CUT LASIK procedure is that it eliminates flap-related complications as there is no need for creating a flap at all, be it with a microkeratome or a femtosecond laser. NO-CUT LASIK eliminates the possibility of side effects or problems associated with making a flap and results in more predictable outcomes.
Although traditional LASIK is highly successful, studies have shown that NO-CUT LASIK improves the quality of the vision produced by traditional LASIK. NO-CUT LASIK/PRK can achieve 20/20 vision as well as reduce or eliminate the need for glasses. NO-CUT LASIK patients also report clearer vision in low light conditions.
