How Lasik Surgeons Borrow From Astronomists For Their Surgical Technologies

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The eye is a very complex optical system. In its most simple form, the eye is called emmetropic. The term emmetropic means that you have no need for glasses and all things are in good focus. Many people do have a need for glasses and they are called either myopic (nearsighted) or hyperopic (farsighted). Myopia and hyperopia are simple low order optical problems that can be corrected with lenses that are essentially spherical in shape.

The next more complicated optical problem is astigmatism. We sometimes describe astigmatism to patients as a football shape curvature to the eye. In other words, instead of being shaped like a sphere or basketball, the astigmatic eye is shaped more like a cylinder or football.

Myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism are all relatively simple, regular and predictable and can be easily corrected with routine glasses. However, there are higher order optical errors which can occur in the shape of your eye that are much more complex, irregular, and difficult to predict. This complexity makes them significantly more difficult to correct with ordinary glasses.

In cases of high order optical errors, the eye takes an irregular warped shape somewhere on the corneal surface. In recent years, we have learned to use complex mathematical models to evaluate and treat higher order optical errors with Lasik. The most advanced Lasik systems can measure and treat significant amounts of irregular astigmatism and other higher order optical errors.

Newer technology uses a type of mathematics that has been used for years by astronomers to correct for unusual or unpredictable optical systems. In the case of astronomy, scientists had to be able to visually correct for the difficult optical effects caused by atmospheres. This same type of mathematics was then applied to the miniature world of the eye. Doctors use a system called Customvue that measures the higher order optical errors using the AMO Wavescan Wavefront System and applies those measurements to the laser treatment during your Lasik surgery.

In addition, this system applies an aspherical treatment to the correction of your nearsightedness, which is believed to give superior optics overall. These new technologies enable surgeons to generate a precise optical measurement of your eye that is unique to you, almost like a "fingerprint" of your eye. This advanced technology allows doctors to generate superior optics that are customized to your eye in ways that were never possible before with older Lasik systems.

About the Author:
Dr. John Suson MD is an ophthalmologist and a clinical instructor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Currently, Dr. Suson is in private practice with his sister at their Suson Eye Specialists Clinic. Laser eye surgery is only one of the many procedures that Dr. Suson offers. Eye health and care are both a family tradition and lifelong passion for Dr. Suson.



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