Yale Eye Laser Center Now Using First of Its Kind Laser Eye Surgery System

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Connecticut residents who may be candidates for laser eye surgery now have access to the latest development in laser vision correction technology, as the Yale Eye Laser Center is now using a wavefront guided LADARVision Excimer laser system to perform laser eye surgery.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this system as the first of its kind for performing wavefront guided laser eye surgery. With this new system, made up of the LADARVision 4000 excimer laser and the LADARWave wavefront measuring system, Yale Eye Laser Center ophthalmologists can, for the first time, measure and treat visual disorders that previously could not even be detected.

Several types of imperfections, referred to as lower- and higher-order aberrations, exist within the eye and can affect both a person's visual acuity and the quality of vision. To date, only lower-order aberrations, which include nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, could be measured and treated. However, lower-order aberrations do not account for all potential vision disorders. Higher-order aberrations can also have a significant impact on a person's quality of vision, and cannot be corrected with glasses, contacts or conventional laser eye surgery.

"Higher-order aberrations are linked to visual disturbances such as glare and halos that may cause night vision problems and are sometimes associated with conventional laser eye surgery," said Bruce Shields, MD, chairman of the department of ophthalmology.

"By using advanced technology to measure both lower- and higher-order aberrations, and then treating each patient's unique pattern of lower- and higher-order visual errors, we are aiming to improve both visual acuity, which is measured against standard numerical outcomes such as 20/20, and the overall quality of vision, such as increased visual crispness and clarity," said Shachar Tauber, MD, director of corneal and refractive surgery at Yale.

Visual acuity of 20/20, considered by most as the standard for vision, has been traditionally measured by a letter chart, which does not provide for detection of many of the disorders that may affect vision.

"Sometimes patients complain about vision quality problems, such as not being able to see in dim or low light. This is referred to as poor contrast sensitivity," explains Tauber. "Prior to the advent of wavefront measurements, there wasn't anything we could do to measure or treat higher-order aberrations. With this technology breakthrough, we can now measure these disorders, show the patient what's going on in their eye, link that information to the laser, and actually correct higher-order aberrations that diminish contrast sensitivity. Wavefront technology enables the surgeon to improve overall vision quality better than in the past."

Source: Yale Eye Laser Center