Article

Elevation topography can be a helpful screening tool before refractive surgery

Elevation topography can be a useful tool in screening patients for LASIK to lessen the chance of the development of ectasia. An ophthalmologist offers tips for using this technology effectively.

Key Points

"A lot of these cases of ectasia in 'normal' eyes are in eyes that were not properly evaluated," said Dr. Belin, professor of ophthalmology and director of refractive surgery, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY.

"That is a great instrument and will not do you any harm," he said, "but realize that there are a couple of assumptions when we use curvature-it's not really Placido, it's curvature-and those are that we make an assumption that our reference axis or our measurement axis is geometrically the center of where the patient is looking but, more so, we're limited to looking at the anterior surface of the cornea."

"We have to understand that at times, normal maps may look abnormal," Dr. Belin said.

Elevation topography helps eliminate the chance of mistakes, said Dr. Belin, also in private practice with Cornea Consultants of Albany, Slingerlands, NY.

Newsletter

Don’t miss out—get Ophthalmology Times updates on the latest clinical advancements and expert interviews, straight to your inbox.

Related Videos
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times)  ASCRS 2025: Joaquin De Rojas, MD, leverages machine learning model to predict arcuate outcomes
Shehzad Batliwala, DO, aka Dr. Shehz, discussed humanitarian ophthalmology and performing refractive surgery in low-resource, high-risk areas at the ASCRS Foundation Symposium.
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) ASCRS 2025: Advancing vitreous care with Inder Paul Singh, MD
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) The Residency Report: Study provides new insights into USH2A target end points
Lisa Nijm, MD, says preoperative osmolarity testing can manage patient expectations and improve surgical results at the 2025 ASCRS annual meeting
At the 2025 ASCRS Annual Meeting, Weijie Violet Lin, MD, ABO, shares highlights from a 5-year review of cross-linking complications
Maanasa Indaram, MD, is the medical director of the pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus division at University of California San Francisco, and spoke about corneal crosslinking (CXL) at the 2025 ASCRS annual meeting
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) ASCRS 2025: Taylor Strange, DO, assesses early visual outcomes with femto-created arcuate incisions in premium IOL cases
(Image credit: Ophthalmology Times) ASCRS 2025: Neda Shamie, MD, shares her early clinical experience with the Unity VCS system
Patricia Buehler, MD, MPH, founder and CEO of Osheru, talks about the Ziplyft device for noninvasive blepharoplasty at the 2025 American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ASCRS) annual meeting
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.