Why is IntraLASIK Better than Traditional LASIK?

By Jeffrey Martin MD

Published on April 22, 2010

Laser vision correction has become exceedingly popular over the last decade. There have been many changes to the LASIK eye surgery procedure, but it may be difficult for consumers to understand how laser eye surgery has progressed in the past few years.

In Dr. Jeffrey Martin's opinion, all patients should undergo bladeless and custom LASIK. This means using Intralase to make the initial flap in the superficial layers of the cornea. Intralase makes a flap with a laser, which creates the most precise and safest flap possible. Patients who undergo IntraLASIK do not experience the complications associated with blade microkeratome flaps such as free flaps, button holes, or macerated flaps.

The laser vision correction part of LASIK is done using a Wavescan and the CustomVue system. The Wavescan gets a detailed fingerprint of your unique vision. This fingerprint map guides the laser when reshaping the cornea, and the CustomVue system uses automatic centering and automatic tracking for the best results possible. The VISX laser also uses iris registration for the best positioning of the laser. Iris registration is a process that allows the laser to use the unique landmarks of each patient's iris to line up the laser vision ablation perfectly.

Dr. Jeffrey Martin, Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at SUNY Stony Brook, uses only iLASIK or bladeless custom LASIK due to its many benefits over traditional LASIK surgery. Since Dr. Martin switched to this method of performing laser eye surgery, the results have improved and become more consistent.