Those of us old enough to remember watching Star Trek on TV can think back to how Dr McCoy used to treat all of his patients. He would wave an instrument over the patients affected area and cure them in seconds. At the time it was purely science fiction, but today it is reality.

A new instrument called the Femtec Laser manufactured in Heidelberg, Germany was designed to perform just such a procedure. The laser focuses on the inside part of the cornea called the Stroma, and makes refractive changes without cutting the outer layers. This avoids surgical complications often found with flaps in LASIK and surface ablation with PRK. No anesthesia is required thus avoiding an additional source of complications, and there is no risk of post surgical infections since there are no wounds to heal. The procedure is completely intrastromal (below the top layer of the cornea) avoiding any contact with the top layer of the cornea.

Presurgical measurements include Keratometry(curves of the cornea), refraction(prescription) and corneal thickness. Then a customized photodisruption pattern is designed for that patient. The laser must use an interface surface to help conduct the laser, and employs a sterile contact lens.

To date the procedure has only been used to correct presbyopia (the over forty years old reading issue) not near or farsighted patients. The results have been fairly good improving patient's reading ability from about 20/70 (J8) at near to 20/25 (J3-J2). The surgery does not affect the distance vision. The only patient complaint has been haloes and glare which appears to resolve in approximately 1-2 months.

While this new surgical laser is still in the infancy of development, it opens the door to a whole new level of medical treatment.