Eye Institute First in New Zealand to Introduce
100%
Metal-Blade-Free IntraLase
Eye Technology for Higher Safety and Affordable 20/20 Visual Freedom Country’s leading ophthalmic surgeons purchase the IntraLase CustomLASIK® to offer thousands the latest high precision procedure for superior laser vision correction.
Eye Institute, leaders in eye surgery and the most experienced laser surgery clinic in Australasia, has introduced to New Zealand a groundbreaking new vision correction laser technology for sufferers of eye conditions. The 100 percent blade-free IntraLase is the first machine of its kind in the country and was purchased for NZ$700,000. More than 99% of Eye Institute patients will have better than driving level of vision when they wake up the next day after the procedure.
The IntraLase uses painless computer controlled microscopic bubbles instead of hand-held metal blades to virtually eliminate the rare but potentially sight threatening complications of traditional blade LASIK vision correction. LASIK is the acronym for laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis, which refers to creating a flap in the cornea to reshape the underlying cornea.
In the US market the IntraLase is the fastest-growing refractive surgical technique available, with 25% of all LASIK procedures using the IntraLase Method™. Over 600,000 LASIK procedures having been performed worldwide using the IntraLase Method with no reports of serious sight-threatening complications. The IntraLase also has the potential to revolutionise other forms of corneal surgery such as corneal transplantation.
The IntraLase procedure is suitable for a range vision conditions including sight-diminishing myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) or astigmatism (oval corneal curvature). The pain-free IntraLase Method takes around 30 seconds per eye, with the entire LASIK procedure often completed in both eyes.
FAST FACTS on the IntraLase
- Most accurate, technology for corneal flap creation (LASIK) now in NZ
- Ideal for knifephobes – uses laser, no blades touch the eye
- Pain-free
- Eliminates the use (and risks) of a blade
- The process takes 30 seconds per eye, entire procedure done in 30 minutes
- Shorter recovery time - you see better straightaway and recover within hours
- Most people achieve 20/20 vision
- 600,000+ procedures performed worldwide, with no reports of serious sight-threatening complications
- Has the potential to revolutionise other forms of corneal surgery such as corneal transplantationin 30 minutes. Patients see better immediately with only mild eye irritation lasting a few hours.
Last week Eye Institute operated on the first patient to use the Intralase treatment. The demand for the safer IntraLase Method is expected by the clinic to be as high as it is overseas.
In traditional LASIK, doctors use a hand-held blade called a microkeratome that moves with an oscillating razor blade across the eye cutting the corneal flap, the thin flap of tissue that the doctor folds back to perform the laser procedure. While it is safe, any complications and patient concerns have been associated with use of the microkeratome.
The IntraLase method allows the corneal flap to be created without a blade ever touching the eye. It sends ultra-fast tiny pulses of laser light a quadrillionth second each, painlessly through the outer portion of the cornea to create a uniform layer of microscopic bubbles with dimensions that are controlled by a computer and not possible by a hand held blade. The process takes 15 seconds and once the procedure is complete a flap created using the IntraLase method uniquely locks back into place and the eye begins to heal within minutes.
Clinical studies also point to superior vision with the IntraLase over the conventional blade-cut LASIK. The IntraLase has been found to deliver better biomechanics , visual outcomes and early contrast acuity , and less induction of astigmatism compared to a microkeratome.
According to Trevor Gray, Eye Surgeon for Eye Institute, thousands of New Zealanders require surgical visual correction but persevere with the burden of contacts and glasses for two main reasons. “First is the fear factor associated with “going under the knife” and what can go wrong post operation. Second the associated finances of eye surgery.
“Given the safety profile of the laser over the blade, people who have delayed getting surgery now have the choice to a better quality of vision with the IntraLase method in New Zealand. The consistency, accuracy and precision achieved with the IntraLase CustomLASIK are impossible in a hand-held blade.”
Eye Institute in its efforts to make this vision treatment as accessible to as many people as possible is offering the least expensive IntraLase surgery in NZ as well as highly flexible finance options for the treatment.
How the IntraLase Method works
The IntraLase FS™ (femtosecond) laser has been available since 2001 and is used as part of the important first step of the LASIK procedure – the creation of a corneal flap. The second step involves reshaping the cornea using an excimer laser.
With IntraLase, the surgeon precisely controls the first step of LASIK using a computer-controlled laser that delivers rapid pulses of light, a quadrillionth of a second each, to a pre-programmed depth and position within the cornea. Each pulse forms a microscopic bubble. As the IntraLase laser moves back and forth across the eye, the bubbles are connected to form a corneal flap. Just prior to vision correction, the doctor gently lifts the flap to reveal a smooth corneal bed, optimised for reshaping.
Physician-programmed laser specifications include flap diameter, depth, hinge location and width, and side-cut architecture - factors that are tailored to meet the individual patient’s needs. The IntraLase laser also creates a distinctive beveled-edge flap that allows for precise repositioning, alignment and seating of the corneal flap after LASIK is completed.
New Zealand, Auckland – 5 May 2006
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