{"id":28534,"date":"2021-07-29T16:14:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T14:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/what-is-wavefront-lasik\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T10:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:57:59","slug":"what-is-wavefront-lasik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/what-is-wavefront-lasik\/","title":{"rendered":"What is wavefront LASIK?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_vddAEYkKFY\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dr. Victor Derhartunian explains what a wave front is.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A wavefront is a description of optical irregularities that can be expressed either only on the pure cornea or in the entire eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/laser-eye-surgery\/femto-lasik-vienna\/\">wavefront treatment<\/a> is a treatment where these irregularities are corrected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We distinguish between two types of wavefront treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The so-called wavefront-optimized treatment, in which mainly the so-called spherical aberrations are corrected or are not induced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are visual defects that can cause halos and glare, especially at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second point is the so-called wavefront-guided treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This involves taking all the data from your eye and feeding it into the laser and correcting it precisely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This type of treatment is mostly used for repairs or for very complex visual defects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Otherwise, wavefront-optimized treatment is used as standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"elxp-wf\"><style>.elxp-wf{text-align:left}.elxp-wf figure{margin:18px 0 26px;max-width:960px}.elxp-wf img,.elxp-wf video{display:block;width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:12px}.elxp-wf figcaption{font-size:.92rem;color:#03293b;margin-top:8px;line-height:1.45}.elxp-wf .elxp-wf-tab{overflow-x:auto;margin:14px 0 22px}.elxp-wf table{width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;min-width:560px}.elxp-wf th,.elxp-wf td{border-bottom:1px solid #e6ebf0;padding:9px 10px;text-align:left;vertical-align:top}.elxp-wf thead th{background:#03293b;color:#fff}.elxp-wf tbody th{color:#03293b;width:24%}.elxp-wf ol{padding-left:1.2em}.elxp-wf .elxp-wf-quellen{font-size:.88rem;color:#33393b}<\/style>\n<h2>What does the wavefront measure?<\/h2>\n<p>Light entering the eye can be described as a wave. In an optically ideal eye, this wave arrives at the retina as a smooth surface. Every deviation from it is an aberration. Short-sightedness, long-sightedness and astigmatism are lower-order aberrations, which glasses or contact lenses can also correct. In addition, there are higher-order aberrations such as coma or spherical aberration. No glasses correct them. They show up as halos, double contours or poorer vision at dusk.<\/p>\n<p>There are two ways to measure it. We calculate the wavefront of the cornea from the corneal measurement with the SCHWIND MS-39. The wavefront of the whole eye, i.e. cornea and lens together, is measured by an aberrometer such as the SCHWIND PERAMIS.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/schwind-peramis-aberrometer.jpg\" alt=\"SCHWIND PERAMIS: device for measuring the cornea and wavefront with chin rest and screen\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" class=\"wp-image-39664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/schwind-peramis-aberrometer.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/schwind-peramis-aberrometer-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/schwind-peramis-aberrometer-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/schwind-peramis-aberrometer-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/schwind-peramis-aberrometer-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><figcaption>SCHWIND PERAMIS: topographer and aberrometer in one device. Photo: SCHWIND eye-tech-solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Wavefront-optimised or wavefront-guided?<\/h2>\n<div class=\"elxp-wf-tab\"><table><thead><tr><th><\/th><th>Wavefront-optimised<\/th><th>Wavefront-guided<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><th>Goal<\/th><td>Correct the refractive error without creating new aberrations, above all no additional spherical aberration<\/td><td>Also treat the measured higher-order aberrations in a targeted way<\/td><\/tr><tr><th>Basis<\/th><td>Glasses prescription and corneal measurement<\/td><td>Individual wavefront measurement of the cornea or the whole eye<\/td><\/tr><tr><th>Use at EyeLaser<\/th><td>Standard for most eyes<\/td><td>For re-treatments, after previous procedures and for complex refractive errors<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>\n<h2>CustomEyes: individual treatment with SCHWIND<\/h2>\n<p>CustomEyes is SCHWIND\u2019s planning module for wavefront-guided treatments on the AMARIS excimer laser. It uses the wavefront of the cornea from the MS-39 or the wavefront of the whole eye from the PERAMIS and is used to select which aberrations are treated. The idea behind it: not every measured aberration affects vision, and treating only the relevant ones removes less corneal tissue [1, 2]. For re-treatments based on the corneal wavefront, follow-up data over four years are available [3]. CustomEyes is available at EyeLaser.<\/p>\n<figure><video controls playsinline preload=\"none\" poster=\"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/customeyes-wellenfront-vorschaubild.jpg\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" title=\"CustomEyes: individual wavefront treatment (SCHWIND)\"><source src=\"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/customeyes-wellenfront.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\" \/><\/video><figcaption>Short film by SCHWIND on CustomEyes (79 seconds, music, no narration). The comparison with tailoring shows the principle: measure precisely first, then treat individually. Video: SCHWIND eye-tech-solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Who benefits from a wavefront-guided treatment?<\/h2>\n<p>The measurement decides. If higher-order aberrations are small, an individual treatment often brings no measurable advantage over the wavefront-optimised one. It is useful above all when significant higher-order aberrations are measured, for example after previous laser treatments, with a decentred treatment zone or with an irregularly shaped cornea. During the preliminary examination we measure the wavefront and discuss with you which treatment suits your eyes. The <a href=\"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/eligibility-test\/\">free suitability test<\/a> gives you a first overview; you can find more on the procedures under <a href=\"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/laser-eye-surgery\/femto-lasik-vienna\/\">Femto-LASIK<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/trans-prk-laser-eye-surgery\/\">Trans-PRK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Sources<\/h3>\n<ol class=\"elxp-wf-quellen\"><li>Arba Mosquera S, de Ortueta D, Merayo-Lloves J. Tissue-Saving Zernike Terms Selection in Customized Treatments for Refractive Surgery. J Optom. 2009;2(4):182\u2013196. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3921\/joptom.2009.182\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">doi:10.3921\/joptom.2009.182<\/a><\/li><li>Arba Mosquera S, de Ortueta D. Optimized Zernike term selection in customized treatments for laser corneal refractive surgery: case report. J Refract Surg. 2011;27(2):148\u2013152. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3928\/1081597X-20100224-01\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">doi:10.3928\/1081597X-20100224-01<\/a><\/li><li>Aslanides IM, Kolli S, Padron S, Arba Mosquera S. Stability of Therapeutic Retreatment of Corneal Wavefront Customized Ablation With the SCHWIND CAM: 4-year Data. J Refract Surg. 2012;28(5):347\u2013354. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3928\/1081597X-20120410-01\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">doi:10.3928\/1081597X-20120410-01<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is wavefront LASIK?<br \/>\nA wavefront is a description of optical irregularities.<br \/>\nLearn more&#8230;  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[188],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lasik-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eyelaser.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}