WHAT IS INTRALASE, “BLADELESS” LASIK?
Intralase, also called “bladeless LASIK” is considered by many laser eye experts and surgeons to be one of the most important new technological advancements in LASIK, laser eye surgery. LASIK is actually a two-step process. In the first step, the surgeon creates a flap of corneal tissue and folds it back to prepare the eye for the second step, where an Eximer laser is used to emit a cold beam of light on the inner cornea to to correct vision. This two-step process allows for rapid visual recovery with little or no patient discomfort. Prior to Intralase, the corneal flap was created with a hand-held microkeratome blade. While this method has worked extremely well over the years, the majority of LASIK complications has been traced back to the microkeratome blade. The most common complications include buttonhole cuts, partial or improperly formed flaps, free caps, invasive corneal incisions, corneal abrasions, and subsequently blurred vision. With IntraLase, the surgeon uses the precision
