About IntraLase LASIK









The IntraLase Method for a Blade-Free LASIK Experience

We know the decision to have LASIK surgery is a big one, so we take great care to determine what's best for you as our patient. That's why we offer blade-free LASIK treatment using 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 significantly 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.


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How the IntraLase Method Works

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 30 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.

Because of the superior accuracy of the IntraLase method, certain patients who were ineligible for LASIK may now be able to have treatment. Ask your doctor today if you are a candidate.

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The New Science of LASIK: IntraLase

There are two steps in the LASIK procedure. First, the surgeon creates a micro-thin corneal flap, which is lifted to expose the inner cornea for step two, tissue ablation by an excimer laser. New science reveals that the first step, creation of the corneal flap, has been underestimated for its affect on LASIK outcomes. Surgeons have found statistically and clinically significant differences in the vision patients achieve -- better than 20/20 to 20/15 and even 20/12.5 -- when the IntraLase laser is used to make the corneal flap.

LASIK with the IntraLase Laser

The ultra-fast IntraLase FS30 laser uses an infrared light beam, generating 30,000 pulses per second, to prepare an optimal corneal architecture below the flap.
Using an "inside-out" process, the IntraLase laser is precisely focused to a point within the cornea, where thousands of microscopic bubbles are formed to define the architecture of the intracorneal surface and the resulting flap.
The surgeon controls the flap diameter, depth, hinge location and width, and side-cut architecture -- factors that can be varied per patient. Bubbles are then stacked along the edge up to the corneal surface to complete step one.
The physican then exposes the prepared corneal bed for excimer laser treatment by lifting the flap. The LASIK procedure is complete when the flap is securely repositioned on its beveled edge.

New "Below-the-Flap" Discovery

If the corneal surface is left with high and low spots (higher- and lower-aberrations) or irregular hydration, the precision of the excimer tissue ablation (step two) can be compromised and with it, the visual outcome. Better outcomes reported with the IntraLase laser may relate to what it does below the flap: creating an optimal corneal architecture for the procedure's second step.


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IntraLase Assurance and Comfort

The IntraLase method has been used successfully on hundreds of thousands of eyes and we trust this advanced technology to deliver exceptional results. Our commitment is to provide you with the ultimate in comfort, safety, and outstanding vision. LASIK with IntraLase can help you achieve all of this -- while it delivers the added assurance of knowing you're being treated with the most advanced technology there is.

LASIK performed with IntraLase is preferred by patients.

In a survey of clinical practices, the vision in the IntraLase-treated eye was preferred up to 3 to 1 by patients over the vision in the mechanical blade-treated eye (among those who stated a preference).

LASIK performed with IntraLase delivers superior visual results.

In a clinical study comparing the IntraLase laser to the leading microkeratome, more patients achieved 20/20 vision or better in standard and custom LASIK surgery when the IntraLase method was used to create the corneal flap.

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| The IntraLase Method | IntraLase Assurance and Comfort |
| How The IntraLase Method Works | The New Science of LASIK: IntraLase

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