This equipment further increases the safety in LASIK refractory surgery, which involves creation of a very thin flap on the cornea, a transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris and pupil.
The hospital has acquired the I-LASIK Suite, which consists of IFS-150, VISX Excimer Laser Star S4 IR laser systems, and Aberrometer.
District Collector S.A.M. Rizvi inaugurated the ‘Star S4 IR Excimer laser system' and Maxivision founder Kasu Prasad Reddy inaugurated the ‘advanced femtosecond IFS-150 laser system'.
Vouching for the IFS-150 laser system, Dr. Reddy said it was the most advanced LASIK equipment and complimented Chaitanya Eye Hospital for making it available to the people of the area.
Chaitanya Eye Hospital chief A. Srinivas said IFS-150 was a 5th generation femtosecond laser.
‘I' in I-LASIK stood for ‘intralase', the name of the flap creation procedure done by IFS-150. Success in LASIK procedure mainly depends on the corneal flap integrity. The IFS-150 could safely make a flap of 90 microns thickness in less then 10 seconds so that more tissue was available for ablation. The residual bed would be stronger, reducing post-operative complications, Dr. Srinivas said.
The I-LASIK procedure can be performed even in cases where the slope of the cornea was much too steep and microkeratome (creating of flap with a very fine blade) was not advised.
Dr. Srinivas said the other refractive surgery equipment available with the hospital was the corneal analyser, wave scan wave front Aberrometer, and the microkeratome.
Dr. Srinivas said that IFS-150 laser system had the clearance of both FDA and NASA. Astronauts and even Air Force pilots were allowed to undergo the procedure to improve their vision, he said. This was the first I-LASIK centre in South India, he claimed.
A. Gita, eye specialist and wife of Dr. Srinivas, thanked their teachers K. Vengala Rao, C. Madhavasai, HoDs of Government General Hospital, Guntur, and G. Natchiar of Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai.
