LASIK

If you’ve dealt with the hassles of glasses and contacts, you owe it to yourself to achieve the life changing freedom of LASIK and VISX WaveFront Custom refractive surgery, the next evolution in vision correction.  Eye Center of Texas delivers the newest FDA approved all-laser Intralase iLASIK combined with the VISX WaveFront Lasik Custom technology with unprecedented safety and precision.  Drs. Edward Wade and Mark Mayo are the most experienced iLASIK Custom procedure surgeons in Houston and together have performed over 40,000 LASIK procedures.

Wavefront LASIK — also known as Custom LASIK — is the most advanced laser vision correction treatment available.  WaveFront LASIK is rapidly becoming the procedure of choice for qualifying patients. And it is no wonder!  This procedure has helped many patients achieve 20/20 or better sight, with sharper, clearer night vision, without depending on glasses or contact lenses.

Eye Center of Texas LASIK eye surgeons perform Custom WaveFront LASIK using the industry-leading VISX S4 laser along with the blade-free Intralase laser.  This combination is considered the ultimate in current LASIK technology and is the required procedure of choice for even the elite Naval “Top-Gun” pilots.  Below, read more about the WaveFront LASIK and blade-free Intralase iLASIK combination.

The Goal of WaveFront LASIK
Nearly 60 million Americans today suffer from nearsightedness, farsightedness, and/or astigmatism — the inability to focus light precisely on the retina because of optical defects of the eye.  These structural defects are known as lower-order aberrations, and they are corrected with glasses, contact lenses, and conventional laser eye surgery like LASIK.  The degree of correction is measured as a quantity, with 20/20 considered normal vision.

There is a second category of optical defects, called higher-order aberrations, which represent residual irregularities in the optical structure of the eye.  Higher-order aberrations affect the quality of vision, and are primarily responsible for problems of contrast sensitivity, night glare, halos, and other disturbances.

The goal of WaveFront, then, is to improve a patient's overall vision quality by 1) eliminating the lower-order aberrations of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism; and 2) by reducing, or at least not increasing, higher-order aberrations.

VISX Wavescan Aberrometer
WaveFront LASIK would not be possible without a measuring device called an aberrometer, which generates a complete aberration map of the eye, consisting of both lower and higher-order aberrations.

The aberrometer works like this: while you stare into its display, the aberrometer projects a harmless infrared laser beam on your retina.  

As the light reflects off your retina and washes over the internal structures of your eye, it emerges from your eye as a wavefront, which is captured by the aberrometer's lens array.  The shape of this wavefront is uniquely yours, since no other person possesses exactly the same shape and structure of your eye.

Your wavefront map is then mathematically interpreted to describe the composition of your vision error.  Wavefront data can be used diagnostically for pre-operative screening and post-surgical analysis, and also as a basis to direct the operations of the laser during the LASIK treatment process.

The Treatment Process
The diagnostic data produced by the aberrometer is imported into specialized wavefront treatment planning software.  This software generates a "laser session" file that's transferred electronically to the computer controlling the laser.  The session file contains the instructions that tell the laser where and for how long to operate on your cornea to correct your specific vision error.

Although other systems are touted as “custom” LASIK, the principal difference is described in the treatment process above: unlike standard LASIK, in WaveFront LASIK the aberrometer data is automatically imported into the treatment planning software, which then automatically generates the file that directs the laser's operation.

What is iLASIK?
The newest technology in LASIK is the new blade-free procedure, known as iLASIK, which offers results not yet comparable to any other LASIK procedure.  iLASIK combined with a custom procedure corrects or greatly improves three common refractive errors in vision: myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism (irregular curvature of the cornea).  In each of these conditions, light entering the eye through the cornea and lens fails to focus properly on the back of the eye, called the retina.  The result is blurred vision.  LASIK reshapes the cornea and restores good eyesight without the need for glasses or contact lenses.

iLASIK Surgery Is a Two-Step Process
To see the details of the surgical procedure and what to expect during and after your LASIK surgery, click Lasik Eye Surgery.

Monovision for Patients Over 40 Years of Age
During childhood, people with normal vision have the ability to focus on objects as close as their nose and also on objects very far away.  They can rapidly, without conscious thought, switch focus from near to far vision. This is called accommodation.  As each year passes, that ability to focus and to switch focus decreases.  By the time most people reach their forties, they need an aid, such as reading glasses or bifocals, to focus on objects close up.  This condition is called presbyopia.

Monovision is a technique where one eye (usually the dominant eye) is corrected for clear distance vision, and the other eye is corrected for comfortable near vision.  Monovision allows a person to see close objects clearly with one eye and distance objects clearly with the other eye.  The vision part of the brain tends to filter out the image from the eye that is not in clear focus, so those who have monovision eventually do not pay attention to the eye that is not as clearly focused.  Those who have monovision are often able to see well enough both at distance and near to do things at any age without corrective lenses.

Monovision can be achieved with contact lenses or with LASIK by correcting the non-dominant eye for near vision and the dominant eye for distance vision.  If you are over 40 years old and are considering monovision LASIK, you can try monovision in contact lenses before you permanently correct your eyes with monovision LASIK.

Are you a candidate for LASIK?  Click LASIK Surgery to learn more about the evaluation process.

Not All LASIK is the Same!

[Posted on September 25]

At the Eye Center of Texas, Dr. Edward Wade knows that all LASIK is not the same.  Many LASIK surgeons in the Houston area are still using metal microkeratomes (blades) to make flaps.  The difficulty with flaps being make with microkeratomes - is the chance of a significant complication is much greater than with the IntraLase (blade free) method for creating flaps.  Dr. Wade used the blade microkeratomes for many years, but as soon as a safer and more precise technology was available, he changed over.  Now, all our flaps made during the iLASIK procedure are blade free IntraLase.  Dr. Wade loves the safety and exact nature of the blade free flap making experience.

Additionally, some Houston LASIK surgeons are still doing non custom LASIK procedures.  At the Eye Center of Texas we only offer the Advanced CustomVue Wavefront–guided VISX excimer laser technology for a truly customized experience.  When you match the IntraLase method with the CustomVue Wavefront laser vision correction procedure, you get the absolute best results.  iLASIK is the latest and most advanced LASIK procedure available - and it’s the only technology the Eye Center of Texas offers.

If you have been thinking about having LASIK…but need a little help with the payments…you may want to consider Care Credit Financing.  For those patients that would like financing options, we offer zero percent financing through Care Credit. This makes it easier for those patients that would like to ease the burden of payment.

Among Dr. Wade’s numerous recognitions, VISX named him one of the ‘Top 100 LASIK surgeons in the U.S.’ and he is presently one of a select number of surgeons in Houston that offer “Intacs” for Keratoconus and “ICL”s; procedures for extremely nearsighted people who are not candidates for LASIK eye correction. He is one of the top 20 ReSTOR surgeons in the U.S. and has more experience with the ReSTOR lens than any surgeon in the Houston area.