The field of Lasik surgery is dynamic and has been evolving ever since the first Lasik procedure carried out in 1990. One major advance was the introduction of Wavefront Lasik, which was approved by the FDA in 2002. This procedure involves first generating a 3D map of your eye. This allows the surgeon to see refractive aberrations in 3D and the map will later guide the laser in its reshaping of your eye\'s corneal surface to correct vision irregularities.

Wavefront Lasik, also known as Custom Lasik surgery and Wavefront-Guided Lasik, uses 3-dimensional measurements of your eye\'s ability to focus. The procedure uses an Aberrometer that sends low-power laser light into the eye which reflects off the retina and passes back through the lens to a sensor. The data from the sensor is then converted into a formula the surgeon uses to program a computer to control the laser that carries out the surgery. So, such lasers used in Lasik procedures are identified as wavefront-guided or wavefront-optimized.

The traditional Lasik eye examinations can only detect cylindrical and spherical corneal abnormalities. Wavefront technology, however, can detect an unlimited number of abnormalities. This means that if you have eye problems other than the three lower-order aberrations mentioned above, wavefront should be able to help you.

Wavefront Lasik also reduces the chances of post-operation complications, such as glare, halos and night vision problems. It is important to remember that wavefront Lasik usually costs significantly more than traditional Lasik, partly because a fee is paid to the device manufacturer for each procedure.