Intralase Method In Eye Surgery
A technology that is catching on in the country replaces the blade with laser in eye surgery.The “intralase” method uses a laser to create a flap that can be opened to have access for laser to treat refractive error. The technology offered precision as an edge over conventional lasik, Medical Director of The Eye Foundation D. Ramamurthy said here on Wednesday.The microkeratome – a metallic blade – was used in the usual lasik procedure to create a flap. If complications arose after a lasik procedure, only the blade could be the cause as it could create undulations in the edges of the flap, Dr Ramamurthy explained.
A rapid computer-controlled femtosecond laser helped in creating the flap. It delivered rapid pulses of light – a quadrillionth of a second each – to a programmed depth and position in the cornea. Each pulse formed a microscopic bubble. As the intralase moved back and forth across the eye, the bubbled linked to form a corneal flap. This process took 20 seconds. The surgeon would then lift the flap to use another laser to correct the vision error, Dr Ramamurthy said.While the basic eye surgery was still the lasik procedure, the intralase was an improvement in the flap-creation technology. It eliminated human error. The doctor pointed out: “Whenever we create a flap, we are weakening the cornea. The new laser-enabled flap creation helps avoid it”.
