Dr Andrew Logan and John Ring with Wellington Eye Centre's VISUMAX 800

The Wellington Eye Centre has become the first laser clinic in New Zealand to take delivery of the VISUMAX 800 femtosecond laser made by Carl Zeiss Meditec.

The VISUMAX 800 replaces the clinic’s previous VisuMax 500 laser. As the number 800 suggests, it’s a whole lot faster than the VisuMax 500, but in fact it’s even faster than the difference between the two numbers would suggest. The 500 laser runs at 500hz, while the 800 runs not at 800hz but at 2,000hz. This means SMILE surgery with the VISUMAX 800 takes less than 10 seconds, while creating a LASIK flap takes only 5 seconds. The VisuMax 500 completes the laser component of the SMILE procedure in 30 seconds, while LASIK takes 17 seconds.

Among patients’ most common concerns when considering laser eye surgery is whether they will be able to keep still for long enough while the laser is operating. This significantly shorter treatment time makes laser surgery much easier and less stressful for both the patient and the surgeon and is the VISUMAX 800’s biggest advantage, especially for SMILE patients. However, there are several other advances included in the new laser which will improve the results and experience for the patient, the most important of these being the robotic assistant systems, which manage centration of the laser on the cornea and control of astigmatism treatment.

Until now, SMILE has only been available for myopia correction, but with the development of the VISUMAX 800, Zeiss has released SMILE for hyperopia correction.

For LASIK patients there are additional significant improvements. The Mel 90 excimer laser, which does the actual vision correction, has been upgraded to run twice as fast as it did previously. This means that for a typical presbyopic patient, the laser vision correction procedure will take 10-12 seconds, rather than 20-24 seconds.

Zeiss has also made significant changes to the way in which procedures are planned and executed. Both the VISUMAX 800 and the Mel 90 are integrated into Zeiss’ Forum ophthalmic data management system. All treatment planning can be done on a PC outside the laser suite, and treatment plans are automatically imported into the two lasers. In addition, data from the IOL Master 700 is imported into the lasers for control of treatment centration and cyclotorsion control.

Zeiss has also developed the Visulyze software package to collect, store and statistically analyse clinical data in a standardised way. It also generates customised nomograms that can be used to refine treatment plans based on previous outcomes. These nomograms are automatically transferred to the VISUMAX 800 and Mel 90 lasers.

The VISUMAX 800 was installed at the Wellington Eye Centre at the end of July and Dr Andrew Logan, medical director at the clinic, has been using the device for over two months to treat SMILE and LASIK patients. Dr Logan was the first in New Zealand to use the VisuMax 500 and he believes the VISUMAX 800 is a major advance in laser vision correction.

“I used the 500 model for 14 years, buying my second one just over two years ago. The 500 is a great machine, but I truly believe that the VISUMAX 800 is a huge advance in technology. With its speed, increased capabilities and improved workflow and connectivity, I think it represents the future of corneal refractive surgery. Zeiss has a remarkable pipeline of new procedures and refractive surgery tools being released over the next few years and I’m really excited to be at the leading edge of refractive surgery in New Zealand,” he said.