Lasers Have Revolutionized Eye Care
But Not All Lasers Are Alike; Other Treatments Effective Also

STONEHAM, MA – ‘Star Wars lasers’ seem magical, and capture all of our imaginations, but in real-life application, no field has employed them to greater human benefit than ophthalmology.

While many think of “lasers” as generic, there are many different types of lasers. In ophthalmology, different treatments require specific types of lasers. Argon lasers are used for retinal disease and glaucoma, while YAG lasers are used for cloudy vision after cataract surgery and in a new, very successful, application for glaucoma. Eximer lasers are used in refractive surgery to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.

A new laser treatment, selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) was developed right here in Boston for glaucoma treatment. It uses a new form of a YAG laser with a frequency-doubled application, and it has an 85% success rate in safely and painlessly reducing eye pressure. This reduces the number of drops a patient requires, or if the drops are no longer enough, it can be used instead of a cutting surgery. The timing of this invention comes fortuitously just as we now recognize the need for progressively lower pressures in more advanced glaucoma.

While we have had tremendous break-throughs with topical medications for glaucoma, they are very costly and often not covered by insurance. But, it is rare for insurances not to cover laser treatments for glaucoma. More and more patients now are electing laser treatment to reduce or eliminate their need for expensive medications and ease of life in not needing to apply eye drops.

This year we will bring the SLT laser to our office each month for our patients to have easy, convenient access to this breakthrough. We are fortunate too, that Dr. Sheth has had training and expertise with this modality.

The Argon laser, for Diabetic and Retinal treatments, is available at our laser surgery facility – the North Shore Cataract and Laser Center on Montvale Avenue in Stoneham. We are pleased to offer our patients convenient access to a center with the latest in surgical and laser equipment.

Dr. Sheth and I both use the Argon Laser there for these treatments. We also use the YAG laser there for treating clouding vision after cataract surgery.

LASIK

The Eximer laser, first manufactured here in the Boston area, has been a blessing in freeing many people from glasses for distance vision, by treating their nearsightedness, farsightedness, and/or astigmatism.

One of the biggest improvements in eximer, developed just last year, lets us measure the smallest optical aberrations and treat them. The healthy human retina has potential vision of 20/10, or two lines better than is normally achieved due to the optical degradation of these aberrations. Until recently, we had no ability to measure or treat these.

Now the Wavescan measuring device can measure them, and the Wavefront Eximer laser from Visx can treat them. This has greatly improved our results with Lasik treatment. Nearly 100% of the patients now achieve 20/20 or better vision. It has even led to the term, “Super Vision.” Dr. Sheth and I are co-medical directors at the Lasik Vision Institute in Burlington, where we have the latest Visx Laser with WAVESCAN and WAVEFRONT abilities.

The Sheth-Horsley Eye Center is located at 3 Woodland Road, Suite 120 in Stoneham, 781-979-0960.