LASIK Technology Salt Lake City - Dr. Phil Hoopes, Jr.

LASIK technology at our Salt Lake City office allows us to perform wavefront-optimized LASIK.

DR. PHIL HOOPES, JR.: You may have heard of many different types of LASIK lasers and what they can do. About ten years ago, we use a term called traditional LASIK, where the lasers, really, just were interested in fixing your prescription. They didn’t take into account the curvature of your eye, or the subtle imperfections of your eye. Next, about five years ago, came a series of LASIK surgeries called custom LASIK, or wavefront LASIK. During this period, cameras were used to take a look at the light, as it left your eye. And the subtle imperfections were programmed into the computer, with the hopes of providing you an individualized treatment and a higher quality vision, as an outcome. When we do these wavefront treatments, it takes more eye tissue. And we found, in our experience, that it didn’t really improve vision much greater than traditional LASIK in years in gone by. What I think is now the most important way to perform LASIK are to use treatments that are called wavefront optimized. New LASIK machines, such as the Wavelight Allegretto and the Zeiss MEL 80, use specific software programming to maintain the eye as round as possible. Older lasers that once flattened the eyes created a lot of distortion, especially at night. New lasers, such as the Allegretto Wavelight laser, and the Zeiss MEL 80, are programmed to provide as round of curvature as possible, following your surgery. By optimizing the cornea and keeping it as round as possible, we found higher vision outcomes and less nighttime symptoms, for our patients.