IntraLase

The IntraLase® Method for a Blade-Free LASIK Experience

We know the decision to have LASIK surgery is a big one, so we take great care to determine what’s best for you as our patient. That’s why we offer blade-free LASIK treatment using the IntraLase method.

With the IntraLase method, pulses of laser light create your corneal flap, which is then lifted so the next step of LASIK—the reshaping of your cornea—can be performed. When your LASIK treatment is over, the flap is securely repositioned into place. This bladeless, computer-guided technology is 100% more accurate than most of the mechanical microkeratomes (hand-held devices with a thin metal blade) that surgeons may also use to create a corneal flap.

IntraLase Assurance and Comfort

The IntraLase method has been used successfully on hundreds of thousands of eyes and we trust this advanced technology to deliver exceptional results. Our commitment is to provide you with the ultimate in comfort, safety, and outstanding vision. LASIK with IntraLase can help you achieve all of this—while it delivers the added assurance of knowing you’re being treated with the most advanced technology there is.

LASIK performed with IntraLase is preferred by patients.

In a survey of clinical practices, the vision in the IntraLase-treated eye was preferred up to 3 to 1 by patients over the vision in the mechanical blade–treated eye (among those who stated a preference).

LASIK performed with IntraLase delivers superior visual results.In a clinical study comparing the IntraLase laser to the leading microkeratome, more patients achieved 20/20 vision or better in standard and custom LASIK surgery when the IntraLase method was used to create the corneal flap.

How the IntraLase Method Works

Unlike mechanical instruments, IntraLase technology is uniquely able to program the dimensions of your flap based on what’s best for your eye. Then the IntraLase laser creates your flap from below the surface of the cornea—without ever cutting it. How?

1. Ultra–fast pulses of laser light position microscopic bubbles at a precise depth determined by your doctor.
2. The laser light passes harmlessly through your cornea. Then the laser creates rows of these bubbles just beneath your corneal surface as it moves back and forth across your eye in a uniform plane.
3. Next, the IntraLase laser stacks bubbles around your corneal diameter to create the edges of your flap. These bubbles are stacked at an angle that is determined by your doctor and is individualized to the way your eye is shaped.
4. The process takes only about 30 seconds from start to finish— it’s quiet and it’s comfortable.
5. Your doctor then gently lifts the flap to allow for the second step of your LASIK treatment. When treatment is complete, the flap easily “locks” back into position and rapidly begins to heal.

Because of the superior accuracy of the IntraLase method, certain patients who were ineligible for LASIK may now be able to have treatment. Ask your doctor today if you are a candidate.

To see the new science of LASIK click here.

For interactive graphics from The New York Times click here.

To watch an educational video about IntraLase® click here.