DiStefano Eye Center uses Allegreto Laser Technology.  There are a number of reasons for this.

Vision—Accuracy, Total Control
Allegretto laser’s revolutionary approach to laser vision correction minimizes problems associated with older generation lasers, such as night vision reduction, glare, and halos.

Performance—Superior Clinical Results
The success of the Allegretto laser can be directly measured by our patients’ remarkable improvement in visual acuity and low occurrence of side effects.

Safety—PerfectPulse Technology™
Smart energy control and eye tracking technology combine to provide an ultra-fast solution to laser vision correction. Innovative and redundant safeguards make Allegretto laser a leader in the field.

PerfectPulse Technology™
PerfectPulse Technology™ represents a new approach to laser vision correction – it accounts for speed, precision, and safety in the Allegretto laser and offers improvements that are revolutionary in the field. Smart Energy Control measures and adjusts energy levels in the laser pulse from creation to delivery. High-speed eye tracking charts the eye’s movement 400 times per second. As a result, every laser pulse is completely controlled and accurate, achieving the most accurate level of correction possible.

Smart Energy Control
You can have peace of mind that the amount of energy in the laser has been calibrated to exactly the right level. After the beam has been created, it passes through three checkpoints on its way to your eye. At each of these points, the energy level is checked and adjusted if necessary, ensuring that the beam is perfectly attuned at its destination.

Allegretto laser is essentially a precise, controlled beam of energy, which translates to heat. To make sure that this beam never causes any sort of adverse heating effect on the cornea, Allegretto PerfectPulse Technology™ places the laser pulses in such a way that only every fifth pulse overlaps. Not only does this preclude unwanted heating effects, it is one of the ways that Allegretto achieves a rounder, more natural corneal surface than many other lasers used for vision correction.

Eye Tracking Technology
Due to the remarkable speed of both the eye and the Allegretto laser procedure, the laser beam needs to be constantly and minutely adjusted to the position of the eye at any given time. Every 4-6 milliseconds, the eye’s location is measured and the internal mirrors of the Allegretto laser are automatically aligned. Right before the pulse is released, a second check is made to confirm that the eye has not moved. This happens 400 times every second, once for every laser pulse released. If at any time, the eye moves too quickly to be measured or moves out of range, the laser will stop and wait for the eye to move back into position.

Speed
Currently, the Allegretto laser is the fastest vision correction laser available in the United States. At 400 laser bursts per second, it only takes about four seconds of treatment to correct one diopter. Of course, spending less time under the laser means less stress and discomfort for the patient.

Wavefront Technology

One of the most innovative features of the Allegretto laser is the way it uses wavefront-optimized technology to automatically compensate for the curvature of the cornea. In earlier laser correction systems, the “optical zone,” or area of correction, was centered on the front of the cornea; the result was a flattened circular area that ended with an abrupt edge, causing unwanted side effects like poor night vision, glare, and halos.

Allegretto laser changes all that. Understanding that the cornea is a sphere, Allegretto laser uses a proprietary treatment that is adjusted to the patient’s individual corneal curvature. The Allegretto laser sends extra pulses to the peripheral cornea area in order to compensate for the angle of the laser. In this manner, the spherical shape of the cornea is preserved to a degree that older lasers simply could not achieve. This compensation, combined with the incredibly small, 1mm size of the laser, produces a smooth, effective optical zone that results in what can only be described as high performance vision.

Imagine a glass ball. If you took a flashlight and aimed it directly at the top of the ball, the light would form a circular shape on the surface of the ball. If you now aimed the flashlight towards the side of the ball, the light would form an elliptical shape and not seem as bright anymore. This is because the same amount of light is suddenly distributed over a larger area and some of the light is reflected away due to the angled surface of the glass ball.

High Performance Vision

Allegretto laser is capable of producing some of the largest available optical zones. The optical zone refers to the portion of the cornea that has been corrected by the laser. A larger than normal optical zone is especially important for night vision, and for patients with very large pupils. If a patient’s pupil is larger than the optical zone, they may experience poor peripheral vision, poor night vision, and a higher than normal incidence of “halos” and glare. In the past, this has been one of the biggest drawbacks of conventional laser correction surgery.

Better Night Vision and Glare Control
At night and in dark conditions, the pupil becomes larger to permit the maximum amount of light to enter the eye. Laser eye correction needs to take this fact into account. If the optical zone is smaller than the size of the pupil at its largest, there is a good chance that the patient will experience poor night vision or problems with glare and halos around bright objects such as oncoming headlights. Allegretto laser is able to produce the largest available optical zone, virtually eliminating glare and night vision problems associated with older generation lasers.

If you’d like to know if you’re a candidate for LASIK vision correction, click here to schedule a free evaluation.