Wavefront is also known as custom LASIK surgery or wavefront-guided LASIK. This technology uses three-dimentional measurements of how a person's eye processes the images they see and then guides the laser to re-shape the cornea (or the front part of a person's eye.)

Wavefront-guided LASIK can correct certain irregularities with a person's eye and optical system that could not be fixed or corrected by contacts, glasses, or traditional LASIK. And if a person is a good candidate for Custom LASIK (wavefront LASIK) surgery, this type of vision correction may be able to help them see better than the person could wearing glasses, contacts, or even having the regular type of LASIK eye surgery.

The history of Wavefront technology

Wavefront technology has actually been around for quite awhile. But this technology has just lately actually been applied to helping people's vision. Wavefront used to only be used by astronomers. They used Wavefront to adjust the reflecting mirror that is in telescopes. Wavefront technology would help the astronomers get rid of any aberrations that were created by the Earth's atmosphere on the optics of the telescope. Now Wavefront can be used in PRK, LASEK, Lasik, and Epi-Lasik eye surgeries.

A candidate for Wavefront LASIK eye surgery

For a person to be a good candidate for Custom Lasik, they need to meet certain criteria that has been established by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration.) There are different types of customer laser systems that are used and this could qualify or disqualify a person from wavefront Lasik. Also, there are other factors such as the person's cornea thickness, and if the person has myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism (when a person's cornea is shaped like an egg or a football instead of shaped like a baseball).

When is Wavefront used?

Wavefront is used during two different times during an eye surgery. First wavefront is used during a wavefront evaluation and during the diagnosis of any existing aberrations. Second wavefront is used when the information (which was gathered during the diagnosis) is taken to create a wavefront-guided ablation for the eye surgery.

Benefits of Wavefront-guided LASIK

There are many benefits for a person who gets Wavefront-guided LASIK compared to getting another type of eye surgery. A person who gets eye surgery using the wavefront technology could not only have an improvement in how much they see, but they also could have improvement in how well they see. They may be able to see more details as well as have more sensitivity to contrast. This is especially great because it means that a person who receives Wavefront-guided LASIK has less of a chance of complications after eye surgery such as halos, bad night vision, and glares.

People who receive Wavefront-guided LASIK have a better chance at having 20/20 vision after their surgery; they may even be able to see better than 20/20. It is even possible that people, who have had another type of eye surgery in the past and have lost best-corrected vision, may be able to have their vision fixed by Wavefront-guided LASIK.