Wavefront Advances into the Real World

Refractive surgeons attending the 'Advancing Refractive Technology: Wavefront and Beyond' symposium sponsored by Alcon at the September 2002 annual congress of the ESCRS were treated to a veritable Salade Niçoise of reports providing the latest information on the place of wavefront technology in current and future practice.

The initial hyperbolical reports of the potential of wavefront technology to produce 'super-vision' are now giving way to a consensus that, yes, wavefront-guided customised ablation does represent an improvement on conventional ablation. Not only does it appear not to induce the amount of optical aberrations (i.e. spherical aberration) that conventional LASIK does, there is evidence that it may reduce the levels of some pre-existing aberrations.

Nonetheless, many questions remain. Just how good are the clinical results with customised wavefront ablation? What elements are required for an optimal customised ablation laser platform? Beyond the necessary hardware and software, what are the practical considerations for the surgeon considering making the jump to customised ablation? What is the present state of the refractive marketplace? These and related issues were discussed and debated at the symposium in Nice.

Marguerite B. McDonald MD FACS Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, Tulane University School of Medicine. New Orleans, LA	Stephen F. Brint MD Associate Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, Tulane University School of Medicine. New Orleans, LA	Raymond Applegate OD,PhD Professor and Borish Chair of Optometry, University of Houston College of Optometry, Houston TX.	Omar J. Hakim MD Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo School of Optometry Ontario, Canada
Ronald R. Krueger MD Department of Refractive Surgery Cleveland Clinic Foundation Cleveland, OH	Francesco Carones MD Co-founder and Medical Director Carones Ophthalmology Center Milan, Italy	Joseph Colin MD Professor, Department of Ophthalmology University of Bordeaux, France	Michael Gordon MD Co-Director, Gordon-Binder Vision Institute, La Jolla, CA

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