News InView Vision
The leader in vision correction.

the Dekalb Neighbor,
Published on December 11, 2002

Emory Invention Hopes to Help Doctors Improve Laser Procedures

Ten years of research have resulted in the development of a diagnostic process set to revolutionize modern ophthalmology. If researchers can make the technology affordable, the process has been shown to improve Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) surgery results to the point where patients gain tremendous improvements compared to surgeries in previous years.

The process, called Interwave^®, can result in a 50 percent reduction in glare halos and produce much sharper, crisper vision than with previous methods, said Dr. Keith Thompson, an ophthalmologist with Emory Vision, whose team developed Interwave^® in conjunction with computer scientists at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“If a person could see say 1,000 stars before, now they will be able to see about 4,000,” he said. “They will see more discrete images, have better quality of vision in dim light and can see far better than if we had diagnosed them without the help of the scanner.”

The Interwave^® Scanner is the key to the process. Traditional diagnostics, Dr. Thompson said, include a diagnosis of the pupil as one entity. He and his team discovered different parts of the pupil see in different ways.

“With the aid of the scanner, patients will have more than 75 target areas diagnosed, giving us a much better picture of the whole pupil,” Thompson said.

The scanner measures the eyes visual aperture with 75 key points which are developed through an interactive process between the patient and the machine. Patients are seated in a device largely resembling a giant rifle scope and use video game-style joysticks to maneuver a crosshair image over a point of light.

Having a more complete picture of where in the pupil the vision is breaking down allows doctors to concentrate on those areas, improving LASIK procedures profoundly. Dekalb resident Lane Austin went through the scanner and then used the Interwave^® Visualizer to see the difference LASIK surgery would make in her vision. Once the scanner information is loaded into the Visualizer, a program simulates the difference between corrected vision and vision after LASIK.

“It was pretty easy,” Ms. Austin said. “You just line up the dots of light. The whole process took about 10 minutes.”

Prior to surgery, Ms. Austin's vision was severely impacted. Her refractive reading was -­6.5, denoting highly blurred vision.

“I could see about six to eight inches in front of my nose without my glasses,” she said. “After the surgery, I could see as well as I could with my glasses on. It is an amazing difference.”

She said she still stares at the alarm clock display, marveling at how clearly she can see the numbers for the first time in more than 20 years.

The Interwave^® Visualizer and scanner currently costs approximately $75,000, but Thompson said, he is in discussions with manufacturers who believe they can get that price tag below $25,000. He hopes to see a manufacturing deal in place soon so that the technology can be affordable for widespread use.