Patient
Jonah Walker: I still remember the first time I put glasses
on and could see leaves on trees.
Reporter
Stephan Tubbs: Jonah Walker is 28 years old and has been
dependant on glasses nearly every day of his life.
Patient: I’ve had to wear glasses for so many years.
Reporter: He’s a freelance video editor who lives in Hollywood.
Patient: You’re always cleaning your glasses, you know, breaking glasses
and losing them.
Reporter: After a lot of research he decided to get LASIK eye surgery
on both eyes.
Patient: I mean I can’t drive legally. My right eye is not that bad
and my left eye is a lot worse. I read with my glasses on. I really
can’t sit in front of my computer without my glasses on. Pretty much
every moment of my life that I’m awake I’m wearing my glasses.
Reporter: What Walker is going to have done isn’t the normal kind
of procedure that’s been done in the U.S. since 1995. This is new,
called the Wavefront method, based on wavefront technology.
Patient: From what I hear it’s just pressure on the eye. I think it
will be interesting.
Reporter: Wavefront technology was originally used by astronomers
to see farther by adjusting lenses to various aberrations and then
allowing for a clearer image to come through. The wavefront method
gives each eyeball 200 individual prescriptions if you will.
Dr. Caster: Go ahead and blink.
Reporter: Dr. Andrew Caster was one of the first doctors here in California
to perform LASIK eye surgery with the Wavefront method and all it’s
delicate computer equipment. He certainly got experience in the 8 plus
years LASIK has been performed in the U.S.
Dr. Caster: Since that time I’ve done about 12,000 laser vision correction
procedures.
Reporter: Caster says for his patients there’s understandably some
anxiety at first.
Dr. Caster: Most people are really afraid about LASIK because they
really don’t know what LASIK is all about and they really don’t understand
the high level of sophistication of the technology that we’re using
in LASIK today.
Reporter: But he says there is really no pain at all.
Dr. Caster: He’ll feel some pressure for about 20 seconds.
Reporter: So going in, Walker is ready.
Patient
Jonah Walker: I hope my vision will be perfect, but we’ll
see what happens.
Dr. Caster: We’re using a laser that tracks your eye at 4,000 times
per second.
Technician: Blink
Reporter: First, measurements are taken.
Technician: You’re going to see a red light that’s going to come on
and it’s going to be off-center so ignore it and keep your eye focused
in the center of that little circle. Blink
Reporter: From this point, Jonah Walker is just minutes from what
will turn out to be a life-changing event. He walks down a hall in
this smartly decorated Beverly Hills doctor’s office. Letters of praise
framed on many of the hallway walls. Then it’s time.
Dr. Caster: Now we’re going to bring the patient in.
Reporter: This surgery room is something out of Star Trek. There are
sliding glass doors, a sterile smell and feel and a constant hum from
large pieces of equipment. At this point walker is on his back on a
surgical type table.
Technician: Go ahead and close your eyes.
Dr. Caster: These are the numbing drops, so there is no shots of any
kind that are needed for this procedure. The patient has been given
some medicine to relax him but he’s perfectly awake and he’s going
to feel some pressure. I don’t think he’s going to call it painful.
I think he’s going to say there’s a little bit of pressure.
Reporter: Walker’s eyelids look strained as they’re propped open but
he’s in no pain at all he says.
Dr. Caster: The depth of the treatment will be 33 microns. That will
be the maximum depth. A human hair has about 100 microns in thickness,
so we’re going to go about 1/3 of the thickness of a human hair.
Reporter: There are assistants that help Dr. Caster through the remarkably
short procedure. It takes just minutes total.
Technician: Suction on
Dr. Caster: This is the only part you’re going to feel. This is the
part where you feel the pressure and everything gets dark during this
part. Just relax. Just keep looking right at the flashing red light.
Computer
Voice: 47 seconds remaining
Dr. Caster: You’re doing great
Reporter: Again, there’s a space age feel to it all even down to the
computer voice coming from one of the machines.
Computer
Voice: 55% done
Dr. Caster: Just keep looking right at the light.
Reporter: Up close here is how it sounds as the procedure is under
way. (Buzzing Sound) The noise may be the most intimidating part but
within mere minutes, it’s over.
Computer
Voice: Procedure Complete
Dr. Caster: Very good. That’s all there is.
Stephen
Tubbs: Recovery time, maybe a day.
Dr. Caster: Go ahead and blink. Open
Reporter: After the procedure Walker could instantly see better without
glasses. Though his vision was a bit blurry from his just completed
surgery. The 28 year old -- yet another success for Dr. Andrew Caster
and the Wavefront method.
Dr. Caster: People who don’t wear glasses or contacts don’t understand
how limited people who wear glasses or contact lenses feel. To have
that limitation eliminated so quickly and something that’s just so
central to your being, the way that you see, it’s overwhelming for
a lot of people.
Reporter: Another success story, Rebecca Fort of Upland, California.
For 40 years she wore glasses.
Rebecca
Fort: This morning I got up and I could see for the first
time since I was about 14 to 15 years old.
Reporter: A day after surgery…
Rebecca
Fort: I could see the clock, I could look out the door and
I could see the trees with the leaves and the detail and the petals
on the roses and the flowers and I could see what my husband looked
like.
Dr. Caster: Many, many people start crying when they come out of the
laser room because they are just overwhelmed with the fact that their
own eyes are now able to see.
Reporter: According to Wavefront literature, nearly half of everyone
in the U.S. requires some sort of vision correction and in the next
year 2 million Americans will undergo laser eye surgery. Insurance
does not cover the procedure. How much does it cost? Typically about
$2500 per eye, depending on your doctor. Also keep in mind the procedure
is not for everyone. Some people are not candidates and like with any
medical procedure there are risks and the surgery is obviously not
reversible. But the odds are against any sort of complications.
Rebecca
Fort: I keep thinking, okay, I just got a good pair of contact
lenses in. An exceptionally good pair and then I realize no I don’t.
I never have to put them in again.
Dr. Caster: The 21st Century has arrived as far as LASIK eye surgery
goes.
Computer
Voice: Procedure Complete
Reporter: Reporting for Perspective, Stephan Tubbs, ABC News, Beverly
Hills
