Enhanced corneal smoothness may result in shorter recovery time of visual acuity
Proprietary technology enhances corneal smoothness that resulted in a shorter recovery time of the visual acuity, higher levels of postoperative visual quality, and shorter time to re-epithelialization.
Take-home message: Proprietary technology enhances corneal smoothness that resulted in a shorter recovery time of the visual acuity, higher levels of postoperative visual quality, and shorter time to re-epithelialization.
Reviewed by David T.C. Lin, MD, FRCSC
Vancouver, British Columbia-Extended periods of healing-and therefore, delayed visual recovery-after surface ablations may be a thing of the past with the advent of technology that was seen to enhance corneal smoothness in a multicenter evaluation.
Investigators reported shorter recovery time of visual acuity, higher levels of postoperative visual quality, and shorter time to re-epithelialization using SmartPulse Technology (SPT) (SCHWIND AMARIS).
SPT was evaluated retrospectively in eight clinical centers worldwide.
“The starting point of this innovation was the recognition that a smoother cornea has a positive effect on vision, particularly during the first few days after treatment,” according to David T.C. Lin, MD, FRCSC, lead author of the multicenter evaluation.
The developers of SPT redefined the ablation profile in geometric structure and pulse definition and distribution, explained Dr. Lin, clinical associate professor of ophthalmology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and medical director, Pacific Laser Eye Centre, Vancouver.
SPT uses a geometric model of the cornea that is based on a three-dimensional fullerene structure that realistically portrays the corneal curvature (Figure 1), which allows the pulses to be positioned more closely than previously, especially in the corneal periphery.
Pulse definition changed from second-order super-gaussian to truncated quasi-gaussian, whereas the pulse distribution changed from random to a global optimization strategy.
All of this results in a very smooth corneal surface, as shown in Figure 2.
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