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WaveFrontResearchers at the University of Rochester, led by vision scientist David Williams, have developed an optical scanning system that they claim will dramatically improve the vision of all people, even those already diagnosed with normal vision (20/20). The system, commonly referred to as WaveFront, is based on "adaptive optics." Astronomers utilize adaptive optics to zoom in on stars, essentially removing their twinkle, to better study their properties. Vision specialists have applied adaptive optics to zoom in on the eye and discover slight abnormalities that had been previously undetected by doctors. The technology is applied by shooting a laser beam into the eye and measuring the light that is refracted outward. The 217 beams of refracted light are then fed into a WaveFront sensor. After the sensor analyzes each beam's deviations, numerous imperfections on the cornea and lens can be brilliantly detailed to produce a blueprint of the eye. The adaptive optics sensor is capable of measuring 65 different eye imperfections - a typical visit to the eye doctor focuses on only two imperfections. While drastic improvements in visual acuity are possible (as sharp as 20/10), adaptive optics enhances low-light vision as well. Williams estimates that drivers having undergone adaptive optics correction could see obstacles in the road at dusk from nearly twice as far as previously possible. Williams has recently published his team's work in the Journal of the Optical Society of America. Further, adaptive optics may soon replace the standard method of measuring vision correction levels. Instead of determining whether lens No. 1 allows one to see better, worse, or the same, the WaveFront sensor will photograph the eye and map its surface in a matter of seconds. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, WaveFront sensing offers ophthalmologists two distinct benefits: 1) a direct measure of previously undetected visual aberrations, and 2) a chance to better screen patients whose optic aberrations would be worsened by typical refractive procedures with the excimer laser. While the technology exists to map the eye with unprecedented accuracy, the ability to ablate the cornea with a commensurate level of precision is not yet feasible. Dr. Jack Holladay articulates this technological chasm as follows, "You might be able to measure my foot to a micron, but if shoes only come in half-inch sizes, what difference does it make?" Dr. Robert Maloney understands that though WaveFront's potential can be revolutionary, its time has not yet come. "We know from LASIK that no matter how precisely we do it, we have variable outcomes. We can only get 70 percent of people to 20/20 on a first procedure. So it we can't reliably correct the two biggest aberrations of the eye - spherical refractive error and astigmatism - because of wound healing, how can we expect to correct these subtle, higher-order aberrations?" This cutting-edge research is now being funded by the National Science Foundation Center for Adaptive Optics, the National Eye Institute, and Bausch & Lomb. ________________________________________________
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