Is 1.25 and 2.00 Astigmatism Mild or Moderate? Intralase Good for Me?

There are several falacies regarding the lasers ability to correct astigmatism that carry over from our early days with Lasik and PRK in the 1990's. An astigmatism is, essentially, a minor warpage or uneven shape in the human cornea. As a result of the individual variation of this unevenness from one patient to another or even one eye to another, in the early days, the lasers were not sophisticated enough to measure this and treat it completely. I had a good bit of astigmatism and was treated in 1994 and am still 20/20 to this day without ever having a laser touchup, so good results certaainly happened then, too.  Today, however, astigmatism is one of the most accurate treatments we have and there is hardly a level of astigmatism(even the most severe) that we cannot treat. Some of the Lasik "chain" stores, which do not have the latest technology, can still stumble with the higher levels of prescriptions, but those of us who are constantly at the forefornt of technology are able to treat almost anyone with spectacular results,

To answer your qustions, your astigmatism is considered moderate and is easily treatable. Also, once the eye reaches its adult shape(around age 21) your astigmatism should no longer change. Much like the width of your foot.....it is just the way your DNA formed the shape, but, once formed, it doesn't change:; therefore, with astigmatism, once corrected, the results are permanent.

At my center, we consider 1-2 of astigmatism moderate, and greater than 2 high. so you're moderate in one, and high in the other eye (the parameters for astigmatism are lower than for myopia)

astigmatism shouldn't change with age. if it does, you've got a disease called kerataconus and cannot get LASIK

you can have LASIK with a metal blade or cut a LASIK flap with a laser which is called IntraLase for mild to moderate astigmatism, but for high astigmatism, LASEK works better

this is because the laser is reshaping the undersurface of your cornea beneath the flap in LASIK and IntraLase, but not touching the flap itself. so when you put the flap back on, you mask some of the new correct shape, so you get some residual astigmatism if you started out with high to begin with

in LASEK there is no cut or flap, so not only is it safer, you can treat higher amounts of astigmatism, as you have no flap that needs to conform to the reshaped bed (which it doesn't fully, which can cause striae)

i had LASIK myself for moderate astigmatism in 1999 (I was the 1st LASIK surgeon who had LASIK himself in NYC) and was left with some residual astigmatism

when i switched from performing LASIK in 2007 to LASEK, i noticed i could treat much higher degrees of astigmatism, with the same brand laser--proving it's the flap that masks the newly lasered corneal surface which is the culprit of this residual astigmatism

anyway, that's my opinion as both a LASIK surgeon who performed 5,000 cases before switching to LASEK, and a former LASIK patient myself with some residual astigmatism

hope this helps

Emil William Chynn MD FACS MBA

Park Avenue LASEK

NYC

Assuming you are a good candidate, in terms of your corneal thickness and shape, LASIK would be a good option for you. You have a low amount of astigmatism which can be very accurately corrected.