News & Events

Ellie Lorenzen, of Omaha, is the winner of the first “Amazing Eyes” contest!

Ellie received an Apple iPad 2 as her prize for the winning photo.

The contest was a lot of fun for the contestants and the staff here at LaserVision Correction Omaha, and we look forward to similar contests in the future!

Huskermax.com is the leading news source for Nebraska Cornhusker athletics. The site was initially started under the name Huskerpedia.com by David Max in 1999.

David recently underwent LASIK surgery by Dr. Kugler. He has written about his experience on his website. Take a look!

http://www.huskermax.com/vbbs/showthread.php?25626-I-can-see-clearly-now

I was recently asked to answer the following question that appeared on the Quora website:  ”Which form of laser eye surgery removes the least amount of tissue?” Here is my answer:

For a given refractive error, the “amount” of tissue removed is roughly the same for the two primary methods of laser refractive surgery: LASIK and PRK. Both methods use an excimer laser to remove a given amount of tissue to better focus incoming light on the retina. The difference in terms of tissue removal is the effect that each technique has on residual stromal bed.

The residual stromal bed is the amount of tissue remaining after a laser procedure that contributes to the overall strength of the cornea. The first step in LASIK is the formation of the LASIK flap, using either a blade or a femtosecond laser. For the sake of discussion lets assume that the average flap thickness is 120 microns. Let’s also assume that the average corneal thickness is 535 microns.

If a patient has a refractive error of -3.00D, then the amount of tissue removed will be roughly 33 microns (this varies depending on the laser platform, but for the sake of this dissuasion let’s assume 11microns per D).

So if the cornea starts with a thickness of 535, then a 120 micron flap is made, we are left with 415 microns after the flap is made. Subract another 33 microns after the laser is performed, and we are down to 382 microns of residual stromal bed.

Let’s say the same eye had PRK, (also known as Surface Ablation). There is no flap made in PRK, but the outer layer of the eye, called the epithelium, is removed prior to laser. The epithelium is approximately 50 microns. So for the same eye:

535 – 50 (epithelium) = 485. 485 – 33 (laser) = 452.

So in this example, LASIK would leave the eye with 382 microns of RSB whereas PRK would leave the eye with 452.

There is much debate amongst LASIK specialists as to whether this difference matters clinically, but the general consensus is that it is best to avoid a RSB less than 250 microns.

For a more in-depth review of this subject, read here.