"How big is too big?" Posted by pat - Anchorage, AK on 15:55:14 5/01/2001
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I'm trying to understand this. How much smaller can the ablation zone be than the nighttime dilated pupil before you have vision problems?
Can a person with 7mm pupils safely have a ablation zone of 6mm? 5mm? 4mm? And how will the oval shape of an astigmatic correcting influence this?
With an ablation zone of 6mm x 4.5mm, I would think problems would start as soon as the eye dilates much past 5mm. Is this an acceptable zone for 6mm pupils? 7mm pupils? 8mm pupils?
There is still much debate on this subject. At the American Society of Cataract and Refractive surgery meeting in San Diego this past weekend, there were conflicting reports on the appopriate optical zone size for a particular pupil size. I personally feel that the optical zone needs to be as large as or larger than the night time pupil size to minimize the risk of night time visual distortions/halos/glare/etc. Most lasers available in the US allow for enlargement of the optical zones to atleast 6.5mm, with some able to treat out to 8.0mm optical zones.
I hope this helps answer your question
Best of luck
Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL
2. "ablation zone" Posted by Foxy - gfhfg, WI on 16:46:37 12/07/2002
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Which lasers can treat up to 8.0mm???
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