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 Unlike other lasers, the FDA approved the Bausch & Lomb Laser, which is specifically designed for LASIK. The Bausch & Lomb Laser, with its narrow 2 mm beam of light, literally dances across the cornea with art and precision. The narrow beam allows Dr. Foulkes to make many small pulses, which are precise to your prescription. Additionally, the Bausch & Lomb Laser has the widest treatment zone possible in LASIK technology today. Typically, other lasers can only treat an area of 6-8 mm. Dr. Foulkes directs the laser's rapid pattern to create the desired vision correction, blending the widely treated area into the surrounding cornea. This creates a very smooth corneal surface, with no steep angles or edges, helping to maintain its natural shape. The advantages of a narrow beam and wider treatment zone, result in a better outcome, tailored to your eyes and reducing the incidence of post-op night vision disturbance.
The Bausch and Lomb laser uses a 150-hertz coaxial infrared pupil tracker (watch a video of the tracker in action). Unlike other systems Dr. Foulkes can specify where the treatment is centered which allows for placing the treatment slightly off center of the pupil where most people see. If you look at a photo or in the mirror the light reflecting off your eye is slightly off center usually toward the nose. If your pupil moves within a 2 mm area the mirror system of the laser moves with you perfectly placing the treatment exactly where specified by Dr Foulkes. The distance up to the laser is less critical with Bausch and Lomb as it is with the Visx laser. Its shower head design of the laser spots make a cone shape on the way to your eye which will vary its size by distance. As the distance is greater by design and the spot size varies little with 1mm up and down movement (for instance your breathing or attempted blinking) accuracy is assured. The 2mm spot with 50 times a second shots makes for a very rapid treatment and because of the larger treatment size is less centration sensitive. In FDA clinical trials the B&L laser got the best results ever reported without pupil tracking! It is reassuring to know that the tracker is at work during your brief treatment. Many claims are made about other tracking systems being better especially the Ladarvision laser. This laser requires the technician place you under the laser to see your eye before dilation. Your pupil must be dilated for the laser work greater than 4 and less than 6.5. Several severe decentrations have been noted due to this weakness. This laser is very, very slow with it's less than .8mm gausian spot and this long treatment requires this tracking as part of the FDA approval of the laser.
View FDA Clinical Trial Results
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Anterior and Posterior Corneal Elevation Plus Full Corneal Pacymetry. How does it work?
The slit-beams penetrate the eye. It measures the tissues (cornea, iris, lens) and Optically rough surfaces (ablated cornea). Slits are triangulated on each surface to create a 3-D definition of the anterior segment. It also detects problems in refractive cases not obtainable with any other means.
 The doctor uses this to decide the type of treatment that would be best for your individual case. The Orbscan helps Dr. Foulkes to determine the size of the treatment zone, and the depth that can be safely attempted. It can also indicate possible postoperative issues that might affect your individual outcome.
The Orbscan takes thousands of measurements of each eye to show the doctor the exact shape and curvature of your eye. It also measures the thickness of your entire cornea to show the doctor how much tissue can be safely removed by the laser. You will see the digital camera scan the cornea from both directions. This is how it gets the 20,000 co-incident digital points. Thus creating the virtual image and real topography. Another interesting topic is the one on ray tracing, which shows you how the images are processed through the cornea using both the front and back surfaces. This illustrates the reason that it is imperative that both sides are imaged to assure a good surgical result. View cornea topograghy.
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