REFRACTIVE SURGERY
LASIK INFORMATION
Dr. Howard J. Kass Co-Manages with several Canadian Surgeons and Laser View of CNY
I personally do all the Pre and Post Op Evaluations and I am in constant contact with your Laser Surgical Group. All your results are promptly faxed to your surgeon for their evaluation. I co-manage both LASIK and PRK patients.
My office is one of the very few Optometric Offices in Central New York that has an instrument to measure corneal thickness. This is one of the most important measurements needed to insure success in Lasik surgery. The instrument is known as a PACHYMETER. Without this measurement your surgeon will not perform Lasik.
Pre Evaluation will save you a trip to Canada to unfortunately find out that you are not a candidate. Those eye docs who do not measure corneal thickness can only guess if your are indeed a good surgical patient. My office can help you save disappointment and traveling time and expense.
Your Pre Operative Evaluation can be done in my office well in advance of your surgical date. This evaluation will help determine if you are a good candidate for surgery.
ZYOPTIC, New wavelength technology is now available for those who need custom Refractive Surgery, also known as Custom Ablation
Photos Courtesy of the Lasik Institute.
Steps of the Procedure for Lasik Surgery
 Before Lasik |
 Stabilization |
 Flap Creation |
 Flap Opened |
 Laser |
 Laser |
 After Lasik |
Creation of the Corneal Flap
*courtesy of Lasik MD
LASIK was developed in the early 1990's. Early on, the instruments performing the procedure, known as Keratomes, made small (7-7.5 mm) flaps. The flaps that were created had significant risks:
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Of being poorly centered·
Of becoming "free" (a flap disconnected from its hinge)·
Of being too thin·
Of inappropriately covering part of the pupil (blocking the laser from delivering the complete treatment).
In 1998, a new type of keratome was developed, which allows the creation of large, vertically oriented, flaps (9.5 mm in size). These larger flaps significantly reduced the above risks. The large flaps also enabled the entire cornea to receive laser treatment.
These larger flaps are used in the Total Cornea LaserTM surgical technique:
Laser Ablation
Laser eye surgery has been performed in Canada since 1990. The early lasers utilized one large, fixed beam of laser that was 6 mm in size ("broad beam"). In dim light, (the pupil enlarges in the dark) patients with pupils larger than 6 mm would see simultaneously through "lasered" and "unlasered" cornea. This lead to the "halo" or "ghost image" effect at nighttime noted with these lasers.
In addition, there was no eye tracking system. As a result, small movements of the eye could lead to the laser treatment being poorly centered on the cornea ("decentrations"). This could lead to poor vision quality.
In 1998, a new type of excimer laser technology was developed and Montreal, Canada was one of the first cities in North America where it was assessed.
It was a scanning spot laser, which was also equipped with an infrared eye tracker that monitored and tracked eye movements. The principal feature of this laser was that the scanning spot was able to treat the entire 10 mm of cornea. Now, patients with pupils larger than 6 mm (50% of the population) would receive large area laser treatments and would no longer look simultaneously through treated and untreated cornea.
As a result, the problem of significant halos, ghosting and night vision
disturbances seen with earlier lasers had been resolved. With this newer
technology these problems are rarely, if ever seen.
YOUR OFFICE VISITS
- Your first visit is for your Pre Op Evaluation to determine your candidacy for Refractive Surgery.
- We do Pachymetry to measure corneal thickness. This is a necessary measurement to insure your success for Lasik Surgery. It also saves you an unnecessary trip to Canada.
- Your next visit will be 4-7 days Post Op except with PRK when I will see you the next day.
- If you have had PRK performed than I will see you much more often during the 1st month following surgery.
- You will then be seen in one month from your original surgical date and you will be dilated during this visit.
- You will then be seen one month after that.
- All results will be faxed to your surgeon.
- I will handle all your post operative needs. In most cases you will not see your surgeon again.
- If you have any questions at anytime you can reach me @ 315-434-9168 or by email @ hjkass@hotmail.com
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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I Co-Manage both LASIK and PRK surgical refractive patients.
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Pre Evaluation and All Post Op visits is $525.00. $150.00 of this fee is to be paid at the time of your Pre-Op visit.
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I encourage you to have your Pre-Evaluation done at my office. If you are having your surgery performed out of the country I can determine your qualifications without you taking the long drive to Canada. My office is equipped with a Pachymeter to insure your Lasik success and an unnecessary trip.
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Without this measurement your surgeon will not perform Lasik.
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In the event where your Canadian surgery center has already completed the Pre-Op Evaluation than your Post Op care can be completed in my office in Syracuse. Your fee, if you pay in full @ the time of your 1st Post Op visit would be $375.00.
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You will be seen @ 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and then again @ 6 months. A total of 4 visits.
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PRK Co-Management is $475.00, payable in full @ the time of your first visit. Because of this procedure you will be seen many more times than with Lasik or Zyoptric.
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PRK will require 6 visits. 2 day, 1 week, 1, 3, 6 months and then again @ 1 year.
All your future care can be done here in my Syracuse office without making the long drive back to Canada.
To Make an Appointment to see Dr.Kass click the eye chart
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