|
|
|
 |
|
|
INTRALASE -
Safer LASIK
By Dr Lee Hung Ming
Breakthrough technology that has made LASIK surgery
even safer and more precise is now available at
TEI. In fact, TEI @ Tan Tock Seng Hospital remains
the first and only restructured hospital to offer
Intralase for myopia and astigmatism correction
in Singapore. Since the introduction of Intralase
last year, more than 1000 myopic eyes have been
successfully corrected with this all-laser approach.
Conventional LASIK
LASIK is currently the most commonly performed laser
procedure to correct myopia (near-sightedness), astigmatism and hyperopia
(far-sightedness) worldwide, as well as in Singapore.
It has been proven to be safe, predictable and effective.
Traditionally, LASIK involves 2 steps:
1. An automated mechanical surgical blade is used
to cut a thin hinged corneal flap which is then
folded aside;
2. A computer-controlled laser beam
is then applied onto the underlying corneal bed
to change the shape and thickness of the cornea,
thereby eliminating myopia, astigmatism or far-sightedness.
The corneal flap is then flipped back into place.
While results remain excellent and complications
rare, some of them
may be related to how precisely and uniformly the
corneal flap is made by
the blade.
Blade-less, All-Laser LASIK with Intralase
With Intralase, there is no need for surgical blades.
Instead, the computer-controlled Intralase machine
emits very short wavelengths of laser energy (femto-seconds
or 10-15 seconds) to precisely and uniformly fashion
the corneal flap. This converts the partial-laser
approach to the new all-laser approach, thus bringing
LASIK to an even higher level of safety. The shape
and size of the flap can be precisely pre-determined
and created with this all-laser approach. Furthermore,
with such precision, an even thinner 100 micron
corneal flap can be fashioned, instead of the conventional
160 microns. This makes it possible to treat people
with high degrees of myopia but thin corneas, who
were previously excluded from LASIK.
Intralase was approved by the US Food & Drug
Administration (FDA)
for use in LASIK three years ago. Since then, more
than 100,000
Intralase procedures have been successfully and
safely performed
worldwide.
|
|
|
|
