Whitsett Vision Group is proud to debut the newest FDA approved excimer laser, Alcon’s WaveLight® EX500 Excimer Laser System. This product integrates cutting edge technology to ensure faster, safer, and more reliable treatment. Its superior speed, multidimensional eye tracker, laser precision, and online pachymetry enable a skilled surgeon to provide the ultimate patient care experience while reducing recovery time and improving patient outcomes.
WaveLight EX500

The doctors and staff at Whitsett Vision Group are committed to providing their patients with the most advanced treatment by using the safest and most recent technology. The WaveLight® EX500 is the fastest excimer laser available today, operating at 500 Hz with a treatment time of 1.4 seconds per diopter-a 20 percent improvement over previous laser generations. The faster laser head reduces the incidence of corneal stromal bed dehydration during the procedure, which can contribute to overcorrection and occurs when a flap is created in the eye. The faster speed, combined with a precise algorithm, results in less stromal drying of the cornea during treatment, increasing patient comfort and decreasing patient fixation fatigue. The result is a more precise outcome and greater patient comfort. Recovery times can also be reduced, minimizing swelling, inflammation, and dryness.

The WaveLight® EX500 also has the fastest multidimensional eye tracker that can track 10 times faster than the human eye can move. This video-based eye tracker ensures that sensitivity to patient eye movement is minimized, featuring a 2 millisecond latency time and the ability to track a wide range of pupil sizes from 1.5mm to 8mm. The tracker also self-regulates, adjusting the laser’s speed as needed. The laser calibrates itself automatically. Calibrations for fluence (the amount of energy delivered to the eye’s tissue in each pulse) are performed once daily and before each treatment. The laser also optimizes the pattern of pulses to overlap every fifth pulse in order to reduce thermal impact to the cornea and to improve the surface quality for ablation (the vaporizing of tissue via laser), resulting in better, more precise results and greater patient comfort. This technology also maximizes the laser’s energy stability, which produces more consistent outcomes.

Alcon’s patented PerfectPulse Technology ensures that the WaveLight® EX500 does what other lasers cannot. It delivers an extremely precise pattern of pulses to the periphery of the cornea in order to minimize spherical abberations, reducing the risk of nighttime glare or halos in patient vision. Maintaining a high pulse frequency while minimizing thermal tissue damage provides improved precision and safety to ensure the best treatment results for patients.

The WaveLight® EX500 also has the ability to measure and monitor corneal thickness (pachymetry) before, during, and after the procedure. The measurements and treatment data are documented through an automated log file storage system designed to keep better track of patient records. The availability of online optical pachymetry ensures the surgeon is always aware of a patient’s corneal thickness throughout the entire procedure. The laser’s Integrated Nomogram Optimization enables users to establish and track operating parameters and outcomes data while allowing surgeons the ability to adjust their personal calculations.

The WaveLight® EX500 is a major advancement in refractive surgery. Its speed, accuracy, and safety features augment a surgeon’s ability to expand their treatment capabilities while allowing a wider range of patients, such as those with higher prescriptions and higher-order aberrations, access to laser vision correction procedures. Keeping with Whitsett Vision Group’s commitment to providing only the safest and most medically advanced treatment, the WaveLight® EX500 Excimer Laser System provides our doctors with the most advanced laser system in the USA. The new WaveLight® EX500, combined with our other high tech lasers at FVC, allows your physician to choose the laser system that is best for each individual patient, improving our patient experience. For more information on the WaveLight® EX500, or to make an appointment for a complete ophthalmic exam, call 713-365-9099