Cleveland Clinic Using New, More Precise Diagnostic Tool in Laser Eye Surgery

CLEVELAND -- New technology being used at The Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute allows doctors to check a person's entire optical system for aberrations before performing laser surgery, helping to produce sharper, clearer vision than ever before.

"The Cole Eye Institute is one of the first sites in the nation and the only eye institute in the Midwest to utilize the new CustomCornea treatment," said Ronald Krueger, MD, a refractive surgery specialist at the Clinic. "The treatment combines traditional laser vision correction with new wavefront technology that measures all types of visual distortions before surgery. Adjustments then can be made for these aberrations to provide patients with the best results possible."

Wavefront technology involves projecting waves of light into a patient's eye and mapping the waves that bounce back. By comparing the patient's wavefront with a model of perfect vision, doctors are able to create a personalized 3D map of the exact corneal reshaping needed for each patient. The customized map then is programmed electronically into the laser before surgery.

CustomCornea treatment currently is available only to patients with nearsightedness, also known as myopia. For people with nearsightedness, images in the distance often appear blurry. This condition is caused by an elongated eyeball or by a cornea that is overly curved.

Traditional laser surgery also is available at The Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute for patients with farsightedness and astigmatism.

The Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute, under the leadership of Hilel Lewis, MD, is ranked one of the top eye care departments in the country, according to a recent survey published by U.S. News & World Report. More than 125,000 patients were treated at the Institute in 2001. The Institute has state-of-the-art eye clinics, operating rooms for eye surgery, and extensive laboratory and clinical space dedicated to research of ophthalmic diseases and development of new treatments.

The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, founded in 1921, integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education in a private, not-for-profit group practice. Approximately 1,100 full-time salaried physicians at The Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Clinic Florida represent more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties. In 2001, there were more than 2.25 million outpatient visits to The Cleveland Clinic. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 80 countries. There were nearly 52,000 hospital admissions to The Cleveland Clinic in 2001.

Source: Cleveland Clinic Foundation