Ultralase Laser eye Surgery: Services that are offered

Laser Eye Surgery

Ultralase brief history had been explained in the previous post. Now, Do you know what ultralase offer to all of patients and its prospect? Below listed some of them:

1. Free Consultation

Ultralase provides free consultation which is not just an ordinary eye checking. Besides checking the health of your eyes to find out whether the patients suitable for laser eye treatment or not, ultralase will provide complete personalized treatment plan to all patients. What is that mean? Ultralase will give treatment summary that is most suitable for the patients. The patients will get some advices that are needed before doing the laser eye surgery/ treatment.

2. Laser Vision Correction

Ultralase laser eye surgery is a very safe and highly effective means of correcting short-sight, long-sight and astigmatism, with 98% of all Ultralase patients able to achieve minimum driving standard of vision or better. It offers:

• LASEK
  An improvement of the earliest laser eye surgery type (PRK, Photo Refractive Keratectomy), LASEK is a highly effective and reliable ‘surface’ treatment with excellent long-term safety. Features rapid, multi-dimensional eye-tracking. £995 per eye.

• LASIK
  A more advanced technique, introduced in the mid-1990s, LASIK involves the design of a thin layer of corneal tissue, known as the ‘corneal flap’. LASIK is the most popular laser eye treatment worldwide. Features rapid, multi-dimensional eye-tracking. £995 per eye.

• ULTRALASIK™/ULTRALASEK™
  Features tissue-sparing technology, This Ultralase treatments are especially appropriate for those with thinner corneas. £1,295 per eye.

• ULTRALASIKplus™/ULTRALASEKplus™
  Ultralase 'Ultra-plus' wavefront treatments are specially customised for each individual eye, and feature iris recognition, tissue-sparing technology and rapid, multi-dimensional eye-tracking. Wavefront-guided treatments are proven by expert surgeons the world over to offer better outcomes and better overall quality of vision. £1,495 per eye.

• INTRALASE®
  Available as an upgrade to all LASIK-based treatments, the IntraLase® method creates the corneal flap using a laser rather than a mechanical microkeratome. Effectively eliminates intra-operative corneal flap complications. £300 per eye upgrade.*
  * in addition to cost of LASIK, UltraLASIK™ or UltraLASIKplus™.

3. Non Laser Treatments

Not all eyesight problems can be corrected by laser eye surgery as mentioned above. To find out about unsuitability check it here. Ultralase also provides services for that. Some of them are:

· INTRA-OCULAR LENSES (IOLs)

Ultralase offer a range of intra-ocular lenses designed for those for whom laser eye treatment may not be the most appropriate solution. UltraLENS, UltraLENSplus and UltraLENSpremier lenses available. Prices from £2,650 per eye.

· CATARACT REMOVAL

State-of-the-art procedure to remove cataracts. UltraLENS and UltraLENSplus lenses available. Prices from £2,650 per eye.

· ULTRA-CK

When people reach to his/ her mid-40s, they start to develop the age-related condition known as presbyopia, characterized by the need for reading glasses. Ultra-CK, standing for conductive keratoplasty, is a revolutionary procedure that uses radio waves - not laser beams - to shrink minute collagen fibres on the cornea (the surface of the eye), thereby helping to counteract the effect of presbyopia. £1,295 per eye.

Laser Eye Surgery in UK: Ultralase – an Overview.

Laser eye surgery

Ultralase is the leading provider of LASIK & Wavefront treatment in United Kingdom. At the first time established in UK (January 1991), it was a sister clinic to the Toronto Facility (Canada) and opened at Clatterbridge Hospital, Wirral. This clinic having specialization in PRK (Photo-Refractive Ceratectomy; first type of laser eye surgery).

LASIK (LASer In-situ Keratomileusis) technique was first introduced at Ultralase in 1995. Beside that Ultralase also extending its treatment to thousands of patients suffering from long-sightedness, astigmatism and more extreme short-sightedness.

Untill 2002, Ultralase had opened many clinics around the country which was in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Chelmsford, Guildford, Leeds City Centre, London (Hammersmith and Tottenham Court Road), Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and St Albans. An additional two clinics was built at Reading, in 2005 & Glasgow by the end of 2006.

Ultralase had gained many recognition and achievement which was:

• Achieving rankings in the Inner City 100 Index and the Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 listings.
• Plain English Campaign's coveted Crystal Mark in 2004 Mark for the clarity of its brochure.
• November 2003, the first groups in the UK to install the Bausch & Lomb Zyoptix Z100 laser system throughout its clinics, offering Wavefront-guided treatment, iris recognition and multi-dimensional eye-tracking capability.
• May 2005, Ultralase performed its 100,000^th laser eye surgery, and with capacity for more than 2500 LASIK eye surgeries to be performed each month.
• June 2005, Ultralase's first intra-ocular eye surgery.
• Per August 2005, Ultralase has launched two new brands - Ultralase Vision Correction (continuing to specialize in laser eye treatment and other forms of vision correction) and Ultralase Medical Aesthetics (introducing cosmetic and aesthetic treatments) into the UK. The first Medical Aesthetics clinic is now open in Hammersmith, London. This makes Ultralase remain at the forefront of laser eye surgery in the UK due to their continuing investment in laser technology.
• June 2006, Ultralase introduces Intralase technology across the UK.
• September 2006, Ultra-CK (conductive keratoplasty), the non-laser treatment for presbyopia; a gradual loss of close-up focusing ability caused by natural ageing process, is launched in clinics.

LASIK Eye Surgery: A Definition

Laser eye surgery

The word LASIK means “Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis.” In situ is latin and means to deal with a phenomenon in place where it occurs, as opposed to outside of it’s environment. Keratomileusis is a surgical improvement of the refractive state of the cornea. It is performed by lifting up the front surface of the eye by forming a thin hinged flap, under which the shape of the cornea is changed by using some type of surgical device.

Excimer Lasers

LASIK eye surgery is therefore surgery that is done in order that a person who wears glasses or contact lenses should no longer be completely reliant on them to see. It is a medical procedure undertaken by a qualified opthamologist. The aim is to modify the shape of the cornea (the clear covering of the front of the eye) through use of an excimer laser. An excimer laser is a type of ultraviolet chemical laser that is unusually well focussed and capable of highly delicate control. Instead of burning away or cutting materials, an excimer laser intrroduces sufficient energy to disrupt molecular bonds of surface tissues. Effectively the tissue disintegrates in a controlled fashion through ablation rather than burning. Excimer lasers can remove very thin layers of surface material with almost no heating or change to the material which is left behind.

Flap Creation

When LASIK surgery is performed, a knife known as a microkeratome is inserted into the cornea and cuts a flap of skin. A human cornea measures from around 500 to 600 micrometres in thickness; the microkeratome creates a 100 to 200 micrometre thick flap. At one side of the flap is left a small piece of skin known as a hinge. The flap of skin is then gently folded back to show the stroma (otherwise known as the middle area of the cornea).

There are two types of microkeratomes currently in use, mechanical and laser. Both are affixed to the eye by use of a 360 degree vacuum ring, flatten the cornea with a clear plate, then cut the cornea underneath the plate.

Mechanical microkeratomes use a sharp thin metal blade. Laser microkeratomes are used in the IntraLasik procedure. They employ amplified light energy to form thousands of minute bubbles at a predetermined depth. These bubbles of water and carbon dioxide connect with each other create an incision.

Reshaping the Stroma

A laser that is controlled by a computer is then used to disintegrate a part (but not all) of the stroma and after that is finished, the flap of the cornea is fixed up and put back into place. New and more advanced ways of performing LASIK surgery are being looked at all of the time.

The purpose of eyeglasses and contact lenses is to compensate for the weaknesses of the eyes and to allow for vision that is as clear as can be. LASIK is a form of refractive eye surgery that is geared towards improving the eye’s ability to focus and not just focus, but also focus well on any object. When it comes to LASIK surgery, a laser is used to remove part of the tissue of the cornea and then it is reshaped in order to improve its ability to focus.

Visit http://www.medopedia.com/ for information on the wavefront Lasik procedure. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Antoinette_Boulay