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Warm weather facts and Your Contacts (PDF) (HTML Version)
Surgeon advocates refractive surgery over contact lens wear to minimize infection risk
Considering Real-World Outcomes: Wavefront-Guided vs. Optimized Ablation
Excerpts from: Look to Wavefront-Guided Surgery to Reduce Enhancement Rates
Capital News How To Guide June 24, 2008 (PDF) (HTML Version)
New research aims to help golfers focus on the key role of vision
Surgeon advocates refractive surgery over contact lens wear to minimize infection risk
WAILEA, Hawaii — In a presentation here on bacterial keratitis, one speaker advocated refractive surgery for contact lens wearers to minimize the higher risk of infection from contact lens wear.
Showing results from a study by Mathers et al, Minas T. Coroneo, MD, said at Hawaiian Eye 2009 that he would recommend refractive surgery for all chronic contact lens wearers.
There is one case of bacterial keratitis from daily contact lens wear in every 100 patients, with a loss of visual acuity greater than 20/70 in one out of 2,000 patients, Dr. Coroneo said. The refractive surgery infection rate is one in 800, with a vision loss greater than one line occurring once in 1,250 to 3,200 patients, and two lines in one out of 10,000.
"When you look at it, over a lifetime, it's safer to have refractive surgery than using contact lenses, since prevention is better than a cure," he said.
Read the full article:
http://www.osnsupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=36375
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Considering Real-World Outcomes: Wavefront-Guided vs. Optimized Ablation
Wavefront-guided ablations provide significantly better results than either optimized or conventional ablations
By Jeffrey J. Machat, M.D.
"Our clinical results mirrored our pricing system both in terms of safety (loss of BCVA, night glare) and visual and refractive results. The Prolate (optimized) approach worked for most patients. It was easy and less time consuming than our Custom approach, with substantially better outcomes than the conventional approach, but the Prolate(optimized) clinical results paled in comparison to our CustomVue (wavefront guided) outcomes.
Another point of comparison was that our enhancement rate with the WaveLight-optimized approach was more than double what it was with the CustomVue wavefront-guided approach (on the Star S4 laser). Furthermore, we found that the only way to make our WaveLight-optimized patients truly happy was to perform a CustomVue enhancement on top of their Prolate ablation."
Read the full article:
http://www.eyeworld.org/ewweeksupplementarticle.php?id=72
Dr. Machat is co-medical director of TLC Laser Eye Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Excerpts from: Look to Wavefront-Guided Surgery to Reduce Enhancement Rates
Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today April 2006
By Mark E. Whitten, MD
"Until recently, I performed laser refractive surgery with both the WaveLight Allegretto and AMO (VISX) Star S4 lasers. After comparing outcomes with the two lasers, however, I have shifted to using wavefront- guided CustomVue surgery with the Star S4 laser for nearly 100% of my refractive surgeries.
In comparing the two laser systems, the most important metric I took into account was my enhancement rate. That single number reveals more about a refractive surgeon’s success than visual acuity outcomes, wavefront error or any other measure, because it is tied directly to patients’ satisfaction.
My preference, of course, is to avoid the need for enhancements in the first place. My outcomes data show that wavefront-guided surgery with Fourier-driven ablations (treatments) and IR is the best method. There will always be patients who for some reason do not heal as expected and need a retreatment, but that number can be dramatically reduced with the latest customized laser technology.
Conclusion
I believe that the days of treating every patient the same are over. I know that every patient who sits in my chair is unique. When you study wavefront maps, you realize very quickly that two sphere myopes with the same -4.5OD prescription will have very different wavefront profiles.
Thus, I believe the future of laser vision correction lies in truly individualized treatments, not similar treatments for similar prescriptions."
Mark E. Whitten, MD, is the Regional Medical Director of TLC Laser Eye Centers, Washington D.C. He is not a consultant to AMO/VISX or Wavelight Laser Technologie AG and he acknowledged no financial interest in any product or company mentioned herein.
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New research aims to help golfers focus on the key role of vision
Pro golfers such as Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Fred Funk and Zach Johnson among others have had lasik surgery to correct their eyesight to “Top Gun” sharpness so critical in the game of golf, especially when it comes to putting.
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