Correcting Astigmatism with Intralase with Lasik?

The amount of astigmatism that you have currently should not be an issue with the VISX laser as it is now FDA approved for up to 5 diopters of astigmatism. Your surgeon will mark your eye carefully and you should be able to have a good refractive result. With either the intralase laser or PRK the shape of your cornea should not cause an issue. Most likely they will be doing wavefront measurements and any higher order aberrations will also be fixed during your corrective procedure.... more

Years ago, astigmatism was difficult to treat using any excimer laser. Now, however, with the advent of bladeless flap creation(Intralase) and wavefront software for the lasers, the treatment of astigmatism is routine and accurate. Many many patients feel their astigmatism is the worst on the planet and could not possibly be treatable. This could not be further from the truth. Astigmatism treatment has become a very fun part of what I do everyday! So get a good laser workup by a very... more

The laser you describe should be able to treat both the astigmatism and the spherical portion of your prescription, and using the Intralase to make the flap should not have any effect of the potential results of your treatment. As another doctor mentions we have found for high astigmatism corrections that the Wavelight laser, now marketed by Alcon, does a superb job in correcting higher amount of astigmatism up to 6 diopters. With your treatment I would expect the VISX should perform well.... more

The latest version of the Visx is FDA approved to treat up to 5 diopters of astigmatism, so you are well within the bounds. I've treated up to 8 diopters with other lasers, with generally very good results. This is considered "off-label"--the lasers were never tested in the FDA studies for this, but if in the opinion of your treating doctor it would work and be beneficial, it can be done. High levels of astigmatism correction with ANY laser are associated with a higher than normal... more

The VISX S4 laser for LASIK can easily treat 3.75 d of astigmatism, though I find the Wavelight laser does a better job with astigmatic treatments.