Posts Tagged ‘flap’

The LASIK Flap

Monday, February 7th, 2011

The first step of the LASIK procedure is to create a “flap”. The flap can be created by several different instruments including a microkeratome which is an instrument with a blade to cut a thin sheet of the cornea or a femtosecond laser which creates a flap through photodisruption and tissue separation. The creation of a flap does not contribute to the correction of refractive error. The LASIK flap simply serves as a lid under which the reshaping of the cornea takes place. Although the creation of a flap with a microkeratome (blade) is generally safe and for many years was the only way a LASIK flap was made, if a complication occurred during a LASIK procedure, it almost always was related to this first step of flap creation.
The IntraLase femtosecond laser was introduced as a safer way to create a flap several years ago. It offers unparalleled safety because it offers more precise thickness settings, is more customizable, is unaffected by the shape of the patients cornea, allows the surgeon to visualize flap creation and offers a “second chance feature” In addition the flap parameters can be adjusted to create a “manhole” configuration that causes the flap to fit snug decreasing the risk of flap slippage.
Raleigh LASIK patients may be confused by “cut-rate” LASIK centers offering blade-free or All-Laser Z-LASIK assuming this is the same as IntraLase. While Z-LASIK is indeed blade-free and does offer precise thickness settings like IntraLase, it offers none of the other safety features ie customization, lack of variability related to an individual patients starting cornea shape, the surgeon can not watch the flap being created and there is no second chance feature: basically you have only one chance to get it right.
Another important difference between the two types of flap-making lasers used in the greater Raleigh area is that a Z-LASIK flap is a single plane cut just like that created by a microkeratome blade whereas the IntraLase has a customizable side cut by which the surgeon can create a “lock-top”. This means the IntraLase flap is more secure against displacement from eye rubbing, squinting and squeezing during the first several hours after the procedure. The flap is also more secure from trauma in the months and years after the LASIK procedure.
So don’t be fooled into thinking all LASIK procedures are the same or that all Blade-Free LASIK procedures are the same. Many patients seek out our services over cheaper providers because they took the time to study the difference in technology and value their safety over a couple hundred dollars in savings.

The Intralase flap fits more securely.

The Intralase flap fits more securely.

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You Can Get a Cheaper LASIK, but You Can’t Get a Better LASIK than iLASIK

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

Over the years, the LASIK procedure has evolved to become better and safer.  The LASIK procedure still consists of two main steps: 1. creating a flap and 2. reshaping the cornea under the flap.  The ultimate in safety and results in LASIK is iLASIK which is the culmination of improvements in both steps.

In the first step, flap creation, a metal blade is replaced with a laser.  In the second step, a technology termed “wavefront-guided” treatment is used to insure the final shape is free of aberrations in order to achieve the best quality of vision.  The resulting advance in LASIK technology is termed “iLASIK”.  Because new instruments and user fees set by the laser manufacturers are added to this premium LASIK procedure, patients can expect to pay more for iLASIK than conventional LASIK.

Recently other technology has been developed to reduce the cost and still achieve some of the advantages of iLASIK.  Z-LASIK offers the advantage of a more precise flap thickness over the bladed microkeratome but it does not match the safety or visual results of iLASIK.

Patients may want to believe that the newer, cheaper Z-LASIK technology is just as good as iLASIK, but just as with many other things in life, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t”.  The iLASIK procedure has proven itself to be the best technology available for LASIK vision correction.  After extensive investigation, the U.S. military has chosen iLASIK exclusively for performing vision correction on our troops because of it’s stellar history.

Medical Director, Dean Dornic, MD is the first Raleigh ophthalmologist to perform iLASIK and has extensive experience in all-laser LASIK procedures.  If you believe, as we do, that the few extra dollars to receive a better LASIK procedure is worth it, why not come in for an evaluation?

So to book you free LASIK Raleigh consultation call today at (919) 467-9955, spots are filling up quickly..

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IntraLase Gives You a “Do-Over”

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Wouldn’t it be great if everytime things didn’t go exactly right you got a “do-over”. How much higher would your grade point average be if you had an opportunity to take that test over that you didn’t study properly for? How much better would your golf score be if you got to take over that shanked drive or missed putt? Well IntraLase is like that because your surgeon gets a chance for a “do-over”.
With Z-LASIK once the flap is cut, well, it’s cut. So if the equipment malfunctions while the flap is being created then you could be left with half a flap or an irregular flap. The procedure may have to be abandoned. Intralase is different. IntraLase works by creating a bubble layer under the surface of the cornea. This works like creating perforations in a strip of stamps. The flap is not complete until the surgeon peforms the “sidecut” and lifts the flap. So in the case of IntraLase, if a malfunction occurs while the flap is being created, the procedure can be halted, the bubbles can be allowed to dissipate and the procedure resumed; the do-over.
Dr. Dornic has performed both IntraLase and Z-LASIK and his findings confirm the published data on all-laser LASIK. IntraLase is safer. No wonder the US military and most major university eye centers choose IntraLase over Z-LASIK. Intralase is the safest method to perform LASIK. If you are in the Raleigh – Durham area and are thinking about LASIK, you owe it to yourself to investigate all the advantages that the IntraLase method offers. Why not come in for a free consultation with Dr. Dornic and find out for yourself?

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Less Risk of Flap Displacement with IntraLase

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

One potential risk of the LASIK procedure is a flap complication. You know that the IntraLase procedure is the safest way to create the flap but did you know that the safety benefits extend even after the LASIK procedure has been completed?
Here’s why. One potential complication is displacement or “slippage” of the flap, especially early on before the flap has healed. When a flap is created with a microkeratome (blade) or Ziemer laser (Z-LASIK), the flap cut is a single plane. The IntraLase flap, however, is meniscus shaped so it fits snuggly like a manhole. The IntraLase flap is better, therefore, at being able to tolerate trauma. This is one reason why the military performs all their LASIK using the IntraLase method.
The IntraLase method of LASIK has a lowest complication rate at the time of the procedure. It also has the lowest complication rate after the procedure has been completed.

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Understanding IntraLase

Monday, March 15th, 2010

The first step of the LASIK procedure is the creation of a corneal flap. The purpose of the flap is to serve as a protective “lid” underwhich the vision correcting corneal reshaping is accomplished.
A laser has always been used to perform the reshaping but until IntraLase, the flap was created with instruments that contained a blade. The IntraLase Method is a 100% blade-free approach to creating your corneal flap. With the IntraLase Method, a blade never touches your eye.

How does the IntraLase Method work?
Tiny pulses of laser light pass harmlessly through the outer portion of your cornea and form a uniform layer of microscopic bubbles just beneath the surface of your eye. Just prior to LASIK surgery, the doctor can lift the corneal flap by gently and easily separating the tissue where these bubbles have formed.
While LASIK complications are rare, when they do occur they are primarily related to the creation of the flap. The IntraLase Method virtually eliminates the most severe complications associated with LASIK.

IntraLase is a blade-free or all-laser procedure but the educated consumer needs to beware. Not all LASIK centers touting All-laser LASIK are offering IntraLase. Some may be offering a less refined procedure that lacks some of the safeguards of IntraLase.
To date, the IntraLase Method has been used in hundreds of thousands of LASIK procedures around the world.
The creation of the flap itself takes only about 15-20 seconds per eye after the application of numbing eyedrops. Including preparation time, the LASIK procedure takes about 10 minutes total.
The IntraLase Method is quickly becoming the preferred method among doctors, patients and the US military to create a corneal flap.
Dr. Dornic has been performing IntraLase for the past several years and is the first Raleigh area ophthalmologist to perform IntraLase.

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