Femtosecond Laser Assisted Cataract Surgery
A cataract is a common condition in which the normally clear lens of the eye becomes increasingly cloudy. Compared to vision with a clear lens, your vision with a cataract may look fuzzy, colors might be muted, and you may experience difficulty with reading signs while driving at night. The symptoms of cataracts are progressive and cannot be corrected with glasses or contacts. When symptoms become bothersome or limit your daily activities, it's time to consider treatment from some of Los Angeles’ top eye doctors at our Beverly Hills Eye Associates.
Femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery is the most advanced technique in the world to provide extra accuracy and precision to cataract surgery. Some of the steps we traditionally performed using handheld instruments can now be completed with the precision of a laser. Specialty Surgical Center is one of the few surgery centers to have two femtosecond lasers – the CATALYS® Precision Laser System and the LenSx® Femtosecond Laser.
Vision Correction Surgery with Refractive Cataract Surgery
Patients interested in achieving good distance vision without glasses must address any pre-existing astigmatism. Astigmatism occurs when the cornea (the front surface of the eye) is not round, but oblong in a toric shape (like a football rather than a basketball). Most patients have some level of astigmatism, though some have more than others. Astigmatism should be corrected to achieve the best possible vision without glasses. Patients with smaller amounts of astigmatism can have it corrected with a femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery for an additional fee.
Astigmatism can be corrected during refractive cataract surgery with either an implant lens option, a surgical technique during the cataract surgery, or a laser vision correction after cataract surgery, all of which involve additional fees.
Once the astigmatism has been addressed, the patient must decide at what distance or distances they wish to see well with less dependence on glasses. There are three distances where people need to see well: distance (driving, TV, movies, walk around vision), intermediate (computer, card playing, museum, dashboard, interpersonal distance) and close-up (reading, sewing, crafts).
A variety of implant lenses are available to address vision at these different distances, and many surgical strategies are able to achieve your optical goals. In general, patients can often be mostly independent from glasses, but still have an occasional need for glasses for activities such as extended reading, reading fine print, using a computer or night driving. These depend on the lens and strategy used.
CATALYS® Precision Laser System
Using CATALYS Precision Laser System, Dr. Cornell can provide you with a highly customized, more accurate, and gentle treatment. Like a fingerprint, every eye has a unique size and shape. Prior to treatment, CATALYS® images your eye and makes precise 3D maps of relevant structure. This enables your cataract surgeon to create a tailored treatment plan that is customized for your eye.
Laser Vision, Laser Precision
CATALYS® creates a perfectly sized, shaped, and centered circular opening to access and remove the cataract. This precise incision helps Dr. Cornell place the new artificial lens exactly where it is intended to be.
Gentle Approach
Your surgeon can use the laser to soften the hard cataract. Softening the lens with the CATALYS® is a gentle low energy approach that reduces surgical time needed to remove the cataract.
Integral Guidance System
The CATALYS® System is also equipped with an integral guidance system, which is an image-guidance system that maps ocular surfaces and determines safety zones so that the ophthalmologist can select and customize the treatment. As a result, this helps ensure that the femtosecond laser pulses are delivered as precisely as possible to the intended location. Steps in the integral guidance system process include:
- Proprietary, 3D spectral-domain OCT imaging system visualizes ocular surfaces
- Algorithms process the image, automatically and accurately map surfaces, then creates safety zones for the surgeon
- Treatment plan is customized based on the patient’s ocular anatomy and the precise orientation of their eye(s)
- Femtosecond laser pulses begin precisely to the intended location while maintaining the safety zones
LenSx® Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery
This femtosecond laser technology was approved in the United States in 2011, and Dr. Cornell was the first surgeon in Los Angeles County to perferm femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery. The LenSx® Femtosecond Laser allows the surgeon to perform the steps of cataract surgery with the laser that would otherwise be done by hand. The accuracy and precision of the laser during the surgery allows for improved refractive results and less dependence on glasses after the surgery.
We offer surgical cataract solutions for patients from Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Culver City, Santa Monica and nearby areas.
