Chicago Custom LASIK – Astigmatism – Dr. Herman Sloane

Astigmatism is one of the most difficult aspects of eye conditions to understand. Surprisingly, though, it isn’t as complicated as it may seem.

Imagine that the cornea (the clear window in the front of your eye) is shaped like half of a baseball. We would say that eye had zero corneal astigmatism. But in truth, the majorities of people have some irregularity to the shape of their cornea and, as a result, have some amount of astigmatism.

Next, imagine an eye that was slightly elliptical in shape – like a football. It only takes a slight irregularity in the shape of one’s eye to cause astigmatism. So, for most people, their eye is almost like that round ball, but just slightly off at the edges giving it the appearance of a football.

In the earlier days of laser development, astigmatism was difficult to treat. Today, at the Sloane Vision Center, there are cutting-edge tools and techniques available to treat astigmatism with extremely high degrees of accuracy.

Whether your astigmatism is a minimal and coupled with your near or far sightedness, or you have an astigmatism that’s decreasing your vision – the approach that’s right for you is available at our center.

Here’s how it works: 

With the latest technological advances, the standard LASIK eye procedure can now be tailored to each individual patient. Dr. Sloane is proud to offer Custom LASIK Chicago patients this wavefront-guided form of LASIK, because it is driven by wavefront analysis of the optical system. Like our fingerprints, each of our eyes is different and has its own unique shape and optical characteristics. As light passes through different structures in the eye, different optical errors are created that can interfere with sharp vision. There are two main types of optical errors, lower-order errors and higher-order errors.

Lower order errors are astigmatism, nearsightedness, and farsightedness, which are usually corrected with glasses or contact lenses. The error is measured by the quantity of lens power needed to achieve best-corrected vision. Higher order errors are caused by irregularities or imperfections in the optical structures of the eye, also affecting the quality of vision. These higher order errors are associated with subtle visual problems such as poor night vision, decreased contrast sensitivity, halo effects around lights, and other visual disturbances

New technology called wavefront analysis can measure these higher and lower order errors and plot them onto a map, which can then be programmed on the excimer laser. This wavefront map is unique for each individual eye. In this way wavefront-guided LASIK eye surgery goes beyond treatment of the lower order errors addressed in conventional LASIK. Wavefront-guided LASIK is a customized laser treatment based on an individual’s wavefront map, thus the name Custom LASIK.

Clinical trials in patients treated with Standard LASIK in one eye and Custom LASIK in the other eye showed that, even with 20/20 vision in both eyes, patients reported better clarity in the Wavefront guided eye. It is currently believed that patients have a greater chance of achieving 20/20 vision or better with Custom LASIK. They also have a reduced chance of having night vision problems.

Sloane Vision Center is dedicated to provided personalized and high-quality eye care. To find out if wavefront-guided Custom LASIK is the procedure for you, schedule your FREE consultation with Dr. Sloane today.

Dr. Sloane’s well-established reputation as a surgeon providing LASIK in Chicago is due to his exceptional patient care and dedication to rewarding vision correction. He is proud to offer his area patients a variety of technologies, including Z-Lasik for bladeless LASIK and Crystalens to treat presbyopia.