lasik bifocal
Can you get bifocal lasik?
If anyone had it done– Was it worth it?
how soon do you envision bifocal lasik surgery so both near-sightedness and up close vision can both be corrected.
Answer
The chance that there will ever be bifocal LASIK is about 1 in a hundred. Its been tried over and over again unsuccessfully. Monovision LASIK (one eye for distance and one eye for close) works quite well in selected individuals. The possibility that we will have a successful surgical treatment to eliminate the need for reading glasses (it would be a separate procedure) is better than 50%. It is still in developmental stages.
Here is technical info on it:
“Bifocal LASIK would be performed like a regular LASIK ablation would, except the cornea would be sculpted in a bull’s eye pattern of different zones with different powers,” he says. The number of laser pulses used to ablate the cornea in different regions would determine the varied powers. The dimensions of the zones depend on the photopic and scotopic pupil diameters for distance and near focusing.
Dr. Schelonka developed two principal strategies for customizing LASIK for presbyopes. One strategy would have the surgeon create two or three optical zones. In this case, he or she would have to customize the procedure based on pupil size, refractive error and the patient’s age. The second strategy involves a more generic, one-size-fits-all approach in which the surgeon creates four or five optical zones to provide a span of near and distance acuity.
If this technique is approved to begin FDA trials, existing technology could be used with new software to help guide the ablation according to Dr. Schelonka’s algorithms. Dr. Schelonka used the VISX Star S2 laser to perform the procedure on plastic simulated eyes. He also used the Orbscan corneal topographer to look at and create the design. The Orbscan lets him see the elevation profile, which helps him ablate in the correct way. He also sometimes uses a Tomey topographer to look at the designs post-op.
Although Dr. Schelonka’s technique has not yet been tested on human eyes, Frederic Hehn, M.D., of France, has begun testing a similar procedure that he calls “Bi-pass Presby LASIK.” The technique uses two concentric LASIK ablations to create a bifocal effect. At the 2001 American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) meeting, Dr. Hehn presented results of 20 eyes from 15 patients.2 His research shows that patients can see distance and near without spectacles after surgery. However, he says, there is sometimes a slight decrease in best-corrected distance acuity.
POST-LASIK PATIENT WITH HIGHER ORDER ABERRATIONS AND SEVERELY REDUCED VISION WEARING SCLERAL LENSES
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