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VISION WAVEMAP® CUSTOM LASER VISION ANALYSIS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE NEW YORK EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY

First available new technology measures waviness and distortion in vision and can predict who might have glare, halo and starburst after LASIK eye surgery.

PRNewswire, New York, N.Y. –December 18, 2001— Since FDA approval in the 1990's, there has been a tremendous growth in the number of patients who have undergone LASIK vision correction surgery. Over one million patients have been treated in the United States alone, and millions more people are expected to undergo this surgery in the next few years.  With this increased amount of surgery, the number of patients who will have problems such as glare, halo, and starburst will also increase. These problems are typically due to different prescriptions being required for different portions of the eye.  One of the most important steps of LASIK surgery is using the correct prescription to program the laser.  Traditionally, vision was measured with a single lens prescription that corrected the whole eye on average. Conventional laser treatment methods can only treat that one prescription. Vision Wavemap^® custom laser vision analysis uses a laser beam to measure the varied prescriptions at many different points on a patient's eye and produces a 3D map of their vision. Any distortion in these maps is due to the amount of variation in prescription needed for that patient's eye.  The distortion level gives the surgeon a more complete analysis of the person's eye, and can help to predict who might have glare, halo, and starburst if they have conventional vision correction surgery.

Barrie Soloway, MD FACS, Director of Vision Correction at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary is the first surgeon in New York to use Vision Wavemap^® to detect distortion in those patients interested in LASIK and laser vision correction.  Using technology developed for improving the resolution of images in deep space astronomy, Vision Wavemap^® wavefront vision scanning can measure the smallest alterations of focus in the human eye. "Although many patients have had excellent results with conventional laser treatments, not every patient ends up with the result they wanted," said Soloway.  "One reason is that every person's eye focuses in a unique way just like our fingerprints or DNA.  Two people with 20/20 vision don't always see the same as each other. With this technology we can accurately diagnose patients with distortion and higher order aberrations before LASIK and advise them against conventional surgery.  Even patients who have had LASIK surgery and now have vision problems might also be helped with this technology," Soloway explained. "It shows us what the cause of their problem is, and can also help us program the laser to correct it."

During the evaluation process the Vision Wavemap^® is completed in less than 12 milliseconds.  Three-dimensional maps of the multiple prescriptions are then evaluated. If the Vision Wavemap^® of these prescriptions is uniform, the patient should be able to undergo conventional laser surgery with excellent results.   But when the eye has higher order aberrations, the Vision Wavemap^® will be distorted. Since conventional laser treatments cannot correct these distortions, those patients are advised to wait for a more customized LASIK surgery.   "Using this tool to accurately measure a patient's prescription can be invaluable in determining which patients should not be treated with conventional laser vision correction," says Soloway. "It is also the important first step in the rehabilitation of those patients who have had problems with their vision after LASIK surgery. No other tool was available before this that could measure the different prescriptions required to improve these patients' problems of glare and visual disability. With this information, we should be able to program a new correction into the laser that can help these patients see better," he added. "As the Director of Vision Correction at The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, I am committed to helping people see better.  This goes along with the mission statement of the Infirmary."

Dr. Soloway is The Director of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary's Vision Correction Center. He is also Surgical Director of Vista Alliance Eye Care Associates, and has been in private practice in New York City since 1986. 

Dr. Soloway, who is regularly featured on local and national television health programs, and listed as one of the "Best Doctors in the United States" in numerous book and magazine polls, was the first doctor in New York to offer LASIK laser vision correction surgery to farsighted patients. He has been performing refractive surgery since 1984 first using the excimer laser for vision correction during clinical trials in 1990.  His leadership role in developing large optical zone treatments to prevent night glare in patients with large pupils has recently been published in a new text for LASIK surgeons entitled, "Customized Corneal Ablation: The Quest for Super Vision."

Click here for more info on Vision WaveMap®

If you don't want to be dependent on glasses or contact lenses call Vista Alliance Eye Care Associates, The New York LASIK doctors toll free at 1-888-NYLASIK (1-888-695-2745) for more information on any of our Vision Correction procedures (LASIK, INtacs, ICL or SRP), to schedule a personal evaluation to help you determine the right prodecure for you, or to register for one of our classes or  seminars