iDesign Vision Treatment

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KFSN) -- You can now get laser eye surgery that's specific to your eye. The iDesign system generates a high definition 3D map of your eye, irregularities and all. Then it guides the laser to custom-correct your vision.

Christa Bailey was tired of fumbling with contacts or glasses before taking her dog Baron for his morning walk.

Bailey told Ivanhoe, "I work on the computer all day so my vision has gotten progressively worse. I can't see far; I can't see the clock in the middle of the night."

Bailey chose the iDesign wavescan system to correct her vision. The FDA approved it 18 months ago and expanded approval to people with mixed astigmatism this year.

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., a Lasik eye surgeon and the medical director of Clearview Eye and Laser Medical Center in California, explained "It measures imperfections of the eye that are like a fingerprint that are unique to the person." (Read Full Interview)

iDesign is adapted from technology used to shape and measure mirrors in the James Webb space telescope. It captures 1,257 data points on the eye, so surgeons can make precise corrections.

Dr. Feldman continued, "The iDesign is like the brain, and it's going to drive the laser treatment. It tells the laser what to do. So we're customizing it based on your imperfections."

The iDesign system created a high definition 3D blueprint of Bailey's eyes for Dr. Feldman. She used that as a map to reshape Bailey's corneas in a ten-minute procedure, as Bailey's husband looked on. The immediate result?

"Oh my god, I can see," said Bailey.

In one clinical study, 92 percent of iDesign patients achieved at least 20/20 vision. iDesign works for nearsighted patients who are at least 18, who have a wider range of pupil sizes, and now patients with mixed astigmatism. The risks are the same as the ones for regular Lasik surgery.