iDesign FAQ Dallas

What is iDesign?

iDesign is the latest technology to perform LASIK. It is 25 times more precise in measuring eye prescription for your LASIK treatment than current methods used to measure glasses or contacts. It provides 5x more resolution* than Customvue LASIK. It was FDA approved in May 2015. According to our vendor, LaserCare Eye Center was the first private practice in the DFW metroplex to get this technology.

What is the difference between iLASIK and iDesign?

Modern LASIK is performed with 2 lasers, a Femtosecond laser to create the LASIK flap and an Excimer laser to treat the cornea. When these 2 lasers are used together, the procedure is sometimes called an iLASIK procedure.

iDesign is a type of Custom LASIK using the latest technology to measure your eye’s prescription and offers an Excimer laser treatment that is super precise.

What are the different ways to treat the cornea for LASIK?

Phoropter

With Conventional LASIK, which has been around since the early 2000’s, the phoropter is used to measure your prescription. The Phoropter is the machine the eye doctor puts in front of your face and asks “better lens 1 or better lens 2.” It works well, but it can only measure in 0.25 Diopter increments.

With true Custom treatments, a computerized Wavefront measuring device is used to measure your prescription, resulting in a precise LASIK treatment. We prefer true Wavefront-guided Custom LASIK treatments because we feel it gives a more accurate measurement than a phoropter. There are 4 additional popular ways to perform Custom LASIK in the US:

• IDESIGN is the latest way to do Wavefront-guided Custom LASIK. It uses an advanced Wavefront measuring device to precisely measure your cornea. It then acts as the brain to drive the laser used to do your LASIK treatment. It uses the same technology NASA uses on its space telescopes to view new stars millions of miles away. It measures 1257 points on the cornea. That is 5 times better resolution* than Customvue. Since it is 25 times more precise than the methods used to measure glasses and contact lenses, it reads measurements down to 0.01 Diopter increments.
• CUSTOMVUE LASIK preceded iDesign. With Customvue, which is a form of Wavefront Guided Custom LASIK, a device called a Wavescan is used to measure eye prescription. This has been available since the mid 2000’s. It measures 240 points on the cornea for your treatment. This means a more precise measurement than conventional LASIK, but not as precise as iDesign.
• WAVEFRONT OPTIMIZED LASIK is another way to do LASIK. Often, it uses fancy calculations without the use of an actual Wavefront measuring device. The calculations are used to simulate a wavefront measuring device. We have elected not to offer this technology.
• TOPOGRAPHY GUIDED LASIK is another new version of LASIK. It can be very useful in corneas with irregular corneas (like corneal scars). It is not a Wavefront guided Custom LASIK treatment. For the normal corneas that most patients have, we still prefer Wavefront-Guided Custom LASIK. We are still evaluating this technology and have elected not to offer it.

*When measuring an average 7mm pupil.