New Astigmatism Treatment with Femtosecond Laser

New Astigmatism Treatment with Femtosecond Laser

Femtosecond Laser shows efficacy in performing Arcurate Keratotomy for Astigmatism Treatment

 

 

Laser technology is now a day’s being frequently used to treat certain eye conditions. One of such techniques is femtosecond laser. Femtosecond stands for one millionth of a billionth of a second.

This term is used to describe the frequency of this laser technique; thus about 100 femtosecond means a velocity which light can travel about 30 micrometers (approximately one-third the thickness of a human hair). This is the speed of this femtosecond technology at which its laser pulses can travel.

Astigmatism is a type of refractive error of the eye. There are two types of astigmatism, corneal astigmatism and lenticular astigmatism. The cornea (the transparent part of the eye covering the colored part of the eye) is curved itself thus the light rays are not focused correctly to the back of the eye. The same principle also applied to lenticular astigmatism in which the astigmatism is caused by the natural lens of the eye.

 

 

Astigmatism can also occur following the cataract surgeries. Cataract is opacity of the lens of the eye which can occur due to many reasons like injury, old age etc.

Recently according to a data published on February 10th, 2012, it has been shown that the femtoseconds laser are effective in performing the arcurate keratotomy or incisions to correct astigmatism.

Till now, it was a practice to correct astigmatism by making small cuts on the cornea using a diamond scalpel, but this method requires an expert hand in order to get the required depth and length. This can be complicated as sometimes over or under correction can occur.

The femtosecond laser technology allows a surgeon to make these incisions in a precise and accurate manner, preventing over or under corrections, thus giving regular and smooth incisions.

The study was conducted on 70 eyes and the results proved to be very convincing regarding the use of the femtolaser technology in performing arcuate incisions for astigmatic correction.

 

 

 

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