Intralase is growing in popularity and it is quite simply a type of Lasik eye surgery. Intralase relates to the way in which the flap is created during the Lasik procedure, using a laser instead of a surgical blade (microkeratome). Intralase is therefore considered a bladeless procedure and many people choose to have it as they don’t like the thought of having a blade anywhere near their eye. It is worth mentioning here however, that even if you have standard Lasik eye surgery you will not be remotely aware of any blade being used, as it is all built into the machine.
Whether Intralase is worth the extra money or not is a tough question to answer as some surgeons will have pretty much equal results and complication rates with both standard and Intralase Lasik. Intralase will typically cost around £300 extra per eye and for some people this may be too expensive to justify. The following lists the main advantages of Intralase:
Results: Intralase gives a slightly higher chance of achieving 20:20 vision following surgery when compared with standard Lasik. This may not be the case if the surgeon is highly experienced and competent with the standard procedure.
Recovery: Recovery is generally quicker following Intralase, meaning you can sometimes return to work and normal activities sooner.
Complications: There are slightly less Lasik complications with Intralase, as most of the problems that occur during Lasik are related to the creation of the flap. The flap created with Intralase is generally cleaner, thinner and more precise, resulting in fewer complications.
Corneal thickness: Intralase can be carried out on people with thinner corneas when compared with standard Lasik as the flap created is thinner.
There are other advantages of Intralase but these are the main ones to consider. I think you can probably see why Intralase is generally considered the gold standard in Lasik eye surgery as it generally results in a slightly more accurate and safer procedure. These advantages however are not as pronounced if you compare Intralase Lasik with a highly skilled surgeon carrying out standard Lasik. It is sometimes said that standard Lasik requires more skill and experience from the surgeon, whereas Intralase Lasik is a slightly more automated procedure.
When deciding whether to have Intralase Lasik or standard Lasik, I suggest asking to see the surgeon’s statistics for both types of surgery. If there is very little difference in the complication rates and the visual results, then you may decide it is not worth the extra money. If however money is no object, very few people would argue that Intralase is the method of choice.
If you are interested in finding out more about Intralase or laser vision correction then you should visit Treatmentsaver.com