LASIK Laser Eye Surgery Articles from
Chicago Vision Specialist Dr. Daniel Ritacca

How ASA Works
Advanced Surface Ablation
Daniel Ritacca, MD

Advanced Surface Ablation is a relatively new laser vision procedure that has additional safety features over LASIK making it an ideal alternative for some patients. Instead of cutting a flap on the front of the cornea, the surface skin cells (epithelium) are loosened with a diluted alcohol solution and removed. The corneal surface is then treated with the laser and covered with a bandage contact lens.

The margin of safety with ASA may be greater than that with LASIK as the need for a microkeratome is eliminated, so there's no risk of flap complications. You do not need to worry about rubbing your eye or bumping it after surgery and having the LASIK flap slip or wrinkle, because there is no flap. The nerve endings that control tear secretion are not cut, so there is less of a problem with dry eye after surgery.

ASA removes tissue within the cornea to treat low to high levels of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.

To treat nearsightedness, the steep cornea is made flatter by removing tissue from the center of the cornea. This moves the point of focus from in front of the retina to directly on the retina.





To treat farsightedness, the flat cornea is made steeper by removing tissue outside of the central optical zone of the cornea. This moves the point of focus from behind the retina to directly on the retina.




To treat astigmatism, the cornea is made more spherical -- like a basketball instead of a football. This eliminates multiple focusing points within the eye and creates one point of focus on the retina. Astigmatism can be treated at the same time as nearsightedness and farsightedness.

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