Blade-free LASIK with the IntraLase® Method (*)
With the IntraLase® method, pulses of laser light create your corneal flap, which is then lifted so the next step of LASIK (the reshaping of your cornea) can be performed. When your LASIK treatment is over, the flap is securely repositioned into place. This bladeless, computer-guided technology is 100% more accurate than most of the mechanical microkeratomes (hand-held devices with a thin metal blade) that surgeons may also use to create a corneal flap. Additionally, in clinical studies, it has been shown that the IntraLase® method has provided more patients with 20/20 vision or better.
How Does the IntraLase® Method Work?
Unlike mechanical instruments, IntraLase® technology is uniquely able to program the dimensions of your flap based on what’s best for your eye. Then the IntraLase® laser creates your flap from below the surface of the cornea without ever cutting it. How?
- Ultra–fast pulses of laser light position microscopic bubbles at a precise depth determined by your doctor.
- The laser light passes harmlessly through your cornea. Then the laser creates rows of these bubbles just beneath your corneal surface as it moves back and forth across your eye in a uniform plane.
Next, the IntraLase® laser stacks bubbles around your corneal diameter to create the edges of your flap. These bubbles are stacked at an angle that is determined by your doctor and is individualized to the way your eye is shaped.- The process takes only about 45 seconds from start to finish— it’s quiet and it’s comfortable.
- Your doctor then gently lifts the flap to allow for the second step of your LASIK treatment. When treatment is complete, the flap easily “locks” back into position and rapidly begins to heal.
(*) Reference: Wang M. Femtosecond technology: is now the time to buy? Refractive Eyecare for Ophthalmologists, 2003.