Laser Treatments > Standard PRK

ADVANCED SURFACE ABLATION (ASA: PRK)

(FOR ABNORMAL CORNEAS)

ASA is a Laser Vision Correction procedure, which has been used long before the LASIK procedure became available. Bense Vision introduced PRK to Eastern Canada in 1994. Unlike the LASIK procedure, it does not require us to create the flap and is therefore a lot safer procedure than blade LASIK. Because much less tissue is permanently removed from the eye in PRK than in LASIK, and because no flap is created, this procedure is more suitable for those who have thinner corneas and/or athletes or police officers who may receive extremely hard body contact, thus similar to the EPI-LASIK procedure.

It is an effective procedure that is suitable for most simple prescriptions like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. It is however primarily designed to improve one’s daylight vision and ignores one’s night vision, unless the procedure is customized with Advanced CustomVue WaveScan technology.

With PRK, the protective surface of the cornea (50/1,000th mm) is removed either with a laser, a steel blade, a brush or chemically (20% Ethanol). An excimer laser then reshapes the layer beneath. The surface layer is expected to heal over a 5-7 day period. A special contact lens is placed on the eye for 5-7 days while the protective layer heals.

You can expect to be in the treatment room for no more than around 20 minutes. PRK is usually recommended if you have an active lifestyle or unusually shaped corneas.

The ASA Procedure

  1. Anaesthetic drops are applied to the eye.
  2. The surface of the outer layer of the cornea is gently removed by the surgeon using a laser beam, a brush, a spatula or chemicals like 20% Ethanol.
  3. Computer-controlled pulses of cool laser light are applied to the surface layers of the cornea. As the laser pulses, it makes a ticking sound. The outer cornea layer is re-shaped with the laser to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism. This reshaping of the cornea is designed to work by simply attempting to duplicate one’s spectacle prescription on the cornea. Although a wonderful procedure, a certain number of clients may experience some night-time driving issues like glare, halos and more difficulty just seeing in poorly lit situations after PRK which is not a customized treatment. In the Customized approach, higher order aberrations are plotted and treated at this time.