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The latest
in laser technologies for refractive correction, the Wavefront 400Hz is equipped
with computer controlled laser which ensures more precision than other laser technologies
being used in the country at present. Dr. Anand Shroff, who has introduced the
technology at the Shroff Eye Hospital in Mumbai, told UNI that by using it, eyesight
of even those using very high power lenses could be corrected to be normal.
He,
however, said at an advanced age those suffering from shortsighted-ness would
still have to use specs for reading etc even after going for treatment through
the new techniques.
The technology is called Wavefront 400Hz because in it
laser beams with frequency of 400 Hz are used while in the existing facilities,
laser beams with frequency of only 200 Hz were being used, which does not give
hundred per cent precision in treatment of the detect, said Dr Shroff.
In reply
to a question, he said in Delhi, eye clinics were using laser beams of only 10
to 50 Hz.
The new technology is fail-safe and error-free as it has an automatic
guided precision laser which impinges the eye at 400 times each second, with a
computer controlled eye-tracking mechanism. The older laser techniques have manual
eye-tracking and larger beam width, putting the patient to risk of errors.
The
Wavefront Hz technology has the most sensitive eye tracker in the world to ensure
perfectly accurate and well centered treatment, with absolutely no side effects
or possibilities of error.
The new techniques maps a pupil-sized part of the
cornea at 168 points.
This mapping helps identify the corrections required
to compensate for the refractive problems.”The eye is one of the most sensitive
parts of the body and we often treat it as commodity, choosing the treatment that
is cheapest,”Dr Shrof said.
The total cost of correcting sight detects
through this technology is low, while this treatment cost about five times more
in the developed countries, he said.
Others clinics in the country using
a laser beam of much low speed were doing this treatment only at a cost of Rs
10,000 to 25,000. But, he said, the eye was the most precious organ of the human
body and its care should not be compromised on financial considerations.
He
said the technology was launched worldwide only in January this year and for the
first time used in the country in Mumbai in March. In Asia, only Singapore and
china were at present using this technology.
He said the cost of the entire
set of machinery and equipment for Wavefront 400 Hz was Rs three crore.
In
reply to a question, Dr Shroff said that since March they had treated 250 persons
and all of them successfully so far. |
