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Our Technology
ALLEGRETTO WAVE™
Right. From the Start.
Superior engineering. Again. Known for innovating the
technological precision and performance found on the road, now German
engineering has brought these same qualities to the eyes of our patients.
Introducing the ALLEGRETTO WAVE™ Excimer Laser. Built with the pioneering
and proven WaveLight technology, this revolutionary new laser provides a
fundamental platform for precision, performance, safety and quality. A
platform where the very basics are done, right from the start.
- Performance—Superior Clinical Results
- Safety—PerfectPulse Technology™
- Smart Energy Control
- Eye Tracking Technology
- Speed
- Wavefront Technology
- High Performance Vision
- Better Night Vision and Glare Control
Accuracy, Total Control; ALLEGRETTO WAVE’s
revolutionary approach to laser vision correction minimizes problems
associated with older generation lasers, such as night vision reduction,
glare, and halos.
Superior Clinical Results; The success of the
ALLEGRETTO WAVE can be directly measured by our patients’ remarkable
 improvement in visual acuity and low occurrence of side effects.
PerfectPulse Technology™; Smart energy control
and eye tracking technology combine to provide an ultra-fast solution to
laser vision correction. Innovative and redundant safeguards make ALLEGRETTO
WAVE a leader in the field.
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More information about
Allegretto Wave!
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Wavefront Analysis
Wavefront
evaluation was performed first by Dr. Shealy at the Shealy Eye Laser
Center in 2003 with the acquisition of the Optical Path Difference
scanner. This scanner evaluated how the human eye processed light as it
passes through all the structures of the eye. As bundles of light are
processed, each structure makes its contribution to the focus of light
inside of the eye. While most light rays form a distinct focus, many
rays scatter and produce aberrated or distorted focus inside the eye.
Wavefront analysis identified all the distorted or undistorted focusing
points inside of each person’s eye.
Fritz Zernike, a Dutch scientist who
won a Nobel prize in physics in 1953, developed a set of mathematical
functions to describe individual wavefront measurements. These
measurements, called Zernike coefficients, measure the various focal
aberrations of the eye. There are 6 groups of coefficients that measure
the wavefront aberrations of the eye. Groups 0-4 are clinically
significant in the real world; whereas, the clinical significance of
groups 5 and 6 have not yet been determined. The root mean square of the
sum of these coefficients is directly related to the quality of vision,
with normal values in the 0.5 to 1.0 range.
Until 2002, vision
correction has been limited to the use of eyeglasses, contacts, and
traditional lasers that corrected myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism of
the eye. While these corrections helped all to see better, it was not
understood why there were differences in the quality of vision for each
patient. German Ophthalmologist Theo Seiler, MD, PhD discovered that
these conventional laser corrections, which treated only spherical and
cylindrical error, caused nighttime glare and haloes. This glare could
be reduced or eliminated with “wavefront optimized laser vision
correction.” In 2002, Dr. Seiler introduced a new generation of excimer
laser corneal ablation systems guided by wavefront principles called the
Allegretto Wavelight Laser.
Dr. Seiler
determined the average amount of spherical aberration that standard
LASIK induced in a typical healthy patient and compensated for it with a
modified wavefront ablation. This correction was designed to make a
prolate cornea with a Q value of –0.46, to compensate for spherical or 4th
order Zernicke aberrations. In the late 1990, this new wavefront
optimized ablation was incorporated in the Allegretto Wavelight Excimer
Laser, exhibited at the 2002 American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting
in Orlando, Florida.
The Allegretto Wave
Laser produces a prolate ablation correction, which means it preserves
the patient’s natural corneal shape. This reduces glare, particularly at
night, or has been described as producing an anti-glare treatment for
night vision. Other laser platforms developed before the Allegretto Wave
Laser had limited influence on night glare due to limitations in beam
quality, design, and tracking. This “custom ablation” produced marginal
reduction in glare in a lower range of prescriptions but with less
accuracy. They required a greater percentage of retreatments and lesser
percentages of high-quality vision compared with the Allegretto Laser.
This was proven conclusively by group studies, conducted by Allegretto
Wavelight users who had also had also used custom and older laser
platforms.
It was commonly
agreed by the top 400 laser surgeons in the world, that these results
were attributed to a number of very unique features that characterize
the Allegretto Wavelight laser system to include the following:
-
Flying spot
perfect pulse scanning delivery system
-
Small laser
spot size of 0.95mm
-
Very rapid
repetition rate of 200Hz
-
Large effective
optical zone of 7 mm or greater
-
High frequency
infrared eye-tracking system (200-600Hz)
-
Wavefront
optimized ablation profiles for treatments
The Allegretto
Wavelight laser system was the first laser platform specifically
designed for wavefront-optimized ablation. It has the potential for
allowing patients to gain vision over glasses or contacts. This occurs
in FDA studies with a frequency of 60% for myopic (nearsighted) and 40%
for hyperopic (farsighted) patients. Its superior accuracy allows
patients who require reading glasses and have monovision to function
without the need for bifocals or readers. In a series of 350 eyes, no
patients had lost any best-corrected vision (BCVA) and two-thirds have
gained vision beyond their pre-surgery vision with glasses or contact
lenses. The clinical FDA studies of the Allegretto Wave Laser shows that
at three months less than 0.4% of patients, or 4 patients per thousand
surgeries, lost up to 2 or more lines of best corrected visual acuity.
This is the most superlative
advance to be seen in our FDA, since Laser
vision correction was introduced several years ago. The Allegretto Wavelight
laser has a higher potential for highest quality of vision and
results in wow, wow, and wow vision in 97% of patients.
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More information about
Allegretto Wave!
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More Information
More Allegretto Wave™
Information
We have a wealth of additional information on the Allegretto
Wave™ Laser System and what it can accomplish, please explore the links
below.
Published articles from other leading
ophthalmologists about the Allegretto Wave™
Allegretto Wave's international success is supported
by outstanding US clinical results:
- First system to receive concurrent approval for
myopia and hyperopia
- In the US FDA clinical trials, 901 eyes were treated
for myopia and 290 eyes were treated for hyperopia
- For myopia, manifest refraction spherical equivalent
predictability was 84.8% within ±0.5 D and 96.7% within 1 D at 3 months
postoperatively
- For hyperopia, manifest refraction spherical
equivalent predictability was 72.3% within ±0.5 D and 90.4% within 1 D at 6
months postoperatively
- For myopia, analysis of BSCVA change at 3 months
postoperatively showed that 57.5% gained one line or more of vision, 36.3%
remained unchanged, 5.7% lost one line of vision, and 0.6% lost 2 lines of
vision
- For hyperopia, analysis of BSCVA change at 6 months
postoperatively showed that 41.2% gained one line or more of vision, 48.5%
remained unchanged, 8.9% lost one line of vision, and 1.5% lost 2 lines of
vision
- The overall re-treatment rate for myopia was 3.6% at
one year
Data displayed in graphs and charts from trial
studies and the FDA
Other related articles
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260-486-0065 or toll free 1-800-644-6393!
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