This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Increased acceptance of wavefront technology will require more sophisticated platforms
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
WESTON, Fla. - More sophisticated corneal and wavefront sensors represent the future of wavefront technology for laser vision correction and are essential to grow the uptake of that technology, Scott M. MacRae, MD, said here.
 Scott M. Macrae |
Speaking at the International Congress on Surface Ablation and SBK, conducted before the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting, Dr. MacRae said wavefront guided ablation makes up 48% of the current U.S. market, yet overall growth of the technology seems to have stagnated.
The lack of progress, he said, has to do with outdated wavefront sensors, slower wound healing with wavefront and the added time-commitment necessary to perform procedures using this technology.
Ergonomically, Dr. MacRae said, use of wavefront technology can also be more difficult for surgeons. In addition, many clinicians view the outcomes with wavefront as only marginally better than those with conventional laser platforms and therefore cannot justify the expenditure.
"There are more sophisticated combinations coming down the line. ... [With] the future of wavefront technology, we all kind of envisioned that topography would someday combine with whole eye wavefront," he said.
The combination of corneal topography and internal wavefront will enable physicians to account for aberrations in the cornea, lens and the entire eye. Furthermore, it will offer the integration of corneal shape data with whole eye wavefront information, Dr. MacRae said.