Sugar Land Area Residents Can Benefit From Lasik Eye Surgery Allowed By Nasa For Use On Astronauts

June 15, 2011 - PRLog -- SUGAR LAND AREA RESIDENTS CAN BENEFIT FROM LASIK EYE SURGERY ALLOWED BY NASA FOR USE ON ASTRONAUTS

Advanced iLASIK, Available at Sugarland Eye & Laser Center, Proves Ready for the Rigors of Space Travel

June 12, 2011 – Sugar Land residents considering vision correction have another reason to be confident in iLASIK, as the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) allows the new advanced, all-laser iLASIK technology for use on U.S. astronauts.  The recent NASA decision was made following review of extensive military clinical data using the iLASIK Method, which showed the technology provides superior safety and excellent vision.

“Even your most-extreme lifestyle is nothing compared to being ejected from an F16 or the G-Forces of atmospheric blastoff,” said Amjad Khokhar MD, Medical Director, Sugarland Eye & Laser Center. “With today’s advanced iLASIK technologies -- which feature the use of two lasers, instead of one as with earlier forms of the procedure -- patients can be confident that they will have improved vision, but also that the procedure has proven to be extremely safe as well.”

Approved for use on consumers almost a decade ago, more than 11 million LASIK procedures have been performed to-date, making it the most-common elective surgical procedure in the U.S. But it wasn’t until iLASIK developed that NASA allowed it for use on pilots, mission and payload specialists who face extreme, physically demanding conditions in space. The all-laser LASIK, which utilizes wavefront-guided and femtosecond lasers, have also been cleared for U.S. military personnel, including most recently Air Force pilots. Sugarland Eye & Laser Center offers the highly advanced iLASIK right in their Sugar Land office.  

TODAY’S ADVANCED iLASIK USES ALL-LASER TECHNOLOGY
LASIK is a two-step procedure. In advanced iLASIK, the computer guided, ultra-fast IntraLase FS (femtosecond) laser is used in the first step to create the corneal flap, virtually eliminating almost all of the most severe, sight-threatening LASIK complications related to hand-held microkeratome blades historically used to create corneal flaps.  In the second step of advanced iLASIK, wavefront-guided technology maps, then custom-corrects vision based upon the unique characteristics of an individual’s eye. This sophisticated measurement provides 25 times more precision than measurements using standard methods for glasses and contact lenses, taking patients to 20/20 vision and beyond.

LASIK’S FINAL FRONTIER
Concerns about the harsh aviation environment prevented the earlier forms of LASIK from use in the military and NASA. To date, aeromedical professionals have been cautious of employing the procedure on military aviators who frequently encounter environmental extremes such as high altitude, dry air, wind blast and “G” forces. In space, these and other conditions add even higher levels of concern due to the extreme precision needed during flight and space walks.

In the U.S. laser vision correction market, iLASIK is the new standard, rapidly becoming the most widely performed laser vision correction procedure. In fact, the majority of premier ophthalmic teaching institutions, including Duke University Medical School, the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at University of Miami, and Stanford University, totaling over 16 domestic and international teaching institutions, use iLASIK to train the next generation of LASIK surgeons.

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We are the region's leader in blade-free LASIK technology. We were one of the first LASIK providers in the region to offer this revolutionary technology.