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-Bladeless LASIK: IntraLASE

Bladeless Lasik is the latest technological breakthrough in LASIK. For the first time in LASIK history we can perform an all laser, LASIK procedure. Are you a Candidate? Laser Vision Correction is often associated solely with the Excimer laser, but there are actually two very important steps in correcting your vision:

1. Creating a very thin flap of tissue that is folded back during treatment.

2. Reshaping the exposed surface with the Excimer laser and replacing the flap.

Until now, the flap has been created with a mechanical, bladed device called a microkeratome. With the bladed style microkeratome there was an increased risk of complications such as corneal abrasions, irregular flaps, as well as button-hole flaps. The Bladeless Lasik procedure offers added safety for patients by eliminating the blade.

Until now, the flap has been created with a mechanical, bladed device called a microkeratome. With the bladed style microkeratome there was an increased risk of complications such as corneal abrasions, irregular flaps, as well as button-hole flaps. The Bladeless Lasik procedure offers added safety for patients by eliminating the blade.

1. Increased Safety:

Because there is no variability in blade quality with the Bladeless Lasik procedure, there is little or no risk of flap irregularities. The all laser approach allows Stahl Eye Center to design the flap specifically to your eyes and visual needs.

2. Increased Precision:
Bladeless Lasik offers the ability to create a flap of uniform thickness at a preprogrammed depth. The traditional style microkeratomes did not account for the curvature of the cornea and created a meniscus style flap, with the edges somewhat thicker than the center. Any variation in flap thickness will result in a variation of your visual outcome. Because we know exactly what depth the flap is being created, we are able to preserve the most corneal tissue following the procedure, leaving each patient with a stronger, more stable eye.

3. Less Invasive
Bladeless Lasik is a much less invasive procedure that traditional LASIK. With traditional LASIK, the flap was created with a device that was fashioned after a carpenter's plane. As it glided across the cornea it was possible to create an abrasion on the front of the eye. Patient's experienced quite a bit of pain as this abrasion healed. With Bladeless Lasik, the laser passes through the cornea and creates small bubbles at a preprogrammed depth without applying friction to the front layer of the eye, a much more comfortable approach for a patient.

IntraLASIK software directs the INTRALASE FS Laser to optically focus its beam into a tiny, 3 micron spot of energy that passes harmlessly through the outer layers of the cornea until reaching its exact focal point within the stroma (central layer of the cornea).

In an "inside out" process, the laser beam creates a dissection plane by forming an interconnecting series of bubbles (made of carbon dioxide and water vapor). The laser beam stacks a pattern of bubbles along the periphery of the ablation plane, leaving an uncut section of tissue to act as a hinge. As with a traditional LASIK approach, the surgeon then folds the tissue back to expose the underlying corneal layer to prepare for the excimer laser treatment that will re-shape the cornea.