This is important because it will tell you if the laser center offers the most advanced laser refractive treatment available in the United States, and it will tell you if they are trying to mislead you into thinking they do to get you to come into their center. Here is the straight story, plainly stated. The optical system of your eye has many parts that determine the quality and focus of your eyesight. The cornea is just one of those parts. In the past we would test the focusing power of your eye with lenses (Better first or second?) to see what lenses give your vision the best focus. We would then use those numbers to program your laser surgery to correct the focus of your eye.

Now we can do more than that. We have instruments that perform a Wavefront Analysis of your eye. Anyone can have one of these to measure your eye. It tells the focusing power and also finds the other distortions that affect the quality and clarity of your vision. These are called "Higher Order Aberrations" and they cause the glare and fuzz that trouble many people. Other laser centers can claim that they take use the results of the Wavefront Analysis to program their laser when all they are doing is taking the focusing measurement from the instrument and using that along with the "better first or second" measurements. That is nothing more than the old way with a fancy machine. Even if they tell you that they are making a custom map of your eye they cannot treat the other aspects of your eye that degrade the quality of your vision.

CustomCornea® is a technique that is only approved in the United States on the LADARVision laser. With LADARVision’s LADARWave CustomCornea we are able to treat thousands of individual spots and imperfections on the eye from the information we gather from our analyzer. It involves taking the complete Wavefront Analysis and programming the laser to correct the distortions as well as the focus to give your vision Higher Definition. Because of this customized treatment, the result is often better than conventional corrections with glasses or contact lenses. If they cannot do your surgery on a LADARVision laser, they cannot give you this result.

The surgeons at SureVision Eye Centers are among the most experienced and well-trained in the world. Together they have performed thousands of surgical and laser vision correction procedures. All of our surgeons are certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. In fact, Dr. Gans is an Associate Examiner for the ABO so he gives the exam to other doctors who want to be certified. They have taught courses to other doctors all over the world, and our staff includes professors at Washington University, Saint Louis University, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Our vision correction surgeons are fellowship-trained, having completed extensive training as corneal and refractive surgery specialists. Dr. Gans has undergone an extensive evaluation and monitoring process to become the only one in the St. Louis regional area who is certified by the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance (CRSQA) an independent board that deals only with refractive surgeons.

Some centers fly surgeons in from other states to perform their laser vision corrections. Our surgeons live and practice in the St. Louis metropolitan area. They are always available to you in the unlikely event of a complication following your procedure.

Dr. Gans was one of the first surgeons to perform Excimer Laser refractive surgery in St. Louis. He led the way as the Principal Investigator of Excimer Laser clinical trials at Washington University and has since performed over 7000 LASIK procedures.

Having outcome statistics is important to obtaining the most accurate results, but it is easy to use statistics to give an inaccurate impression about surgical results. Ninety-eight percent of our patients achieve 20/40 vision ("driving vision") or better following their laser vision correction. Some of our patients are not intended to get 20/20 vision at distance because they want Monovision to help them with reading. With the introduction of LADARWaveä Wavefront Technology we expect to be able to improve not only the quantity of vision, but also the quality of vision. In the patients treated with this technology for the FDA approval, 100% got 20/25 or better vision and over half got better than 20/20 vision. These people were not being treated for monovision in that study.

A large percentage of our LASIK candidates are referred from an extensive network of referring doctors and from our own previous patients. The trust and confidence they have in our doctors, our staff and our technology speaks for itself with the referrals of their friends and family to our center. Patients and staff members who have experienced the excitement of being able to see without the crutches of glasses and contact lenses are always happy to tell you about their experience.

The humidity, temperature and quality of the air in the room where your laser surgery is performed is very important to the accuracy and safety of your procedure. Changes in humidity will change the rate that the laser removes the tissue to change the focus of your eye and can significantly alter the result of surgery. Dust particles and lint are attracted to the exposed surface of your cornea during surgery and can contaminate that surface increasing the risk of inflammation and scarring.

The SureVision Laser Center is second to none in the quality of environmental controls in our surgery suite. We have a separate and specially designed air conditioning unit dedicated only to the surgery suite to maintain precise control of temperature and humidity. We use special HEPPA filters that catch particles the size of a virus to keep the air where we do surgery clean. We all know what the air and temperature and humidity in St. Louis can be like, so be sure that the room where you have your eye surgery is under tight control at the highest standards.

Lawrence A. Gans, M.D. is the Medical Director and leader of the refractive surgery team for SureVision Eye Centers and the SureVision Laser Center. With over 22 years of experience in refractive and corneal surgery, Dr. Gans is a pioneer in procedures to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.

In 2000, our doctors introduced LADARVisionâ to St. Louis and are the most experienced with this technology. Because of their expertise, they are credentialed to train other physicians in procedure technique and often lecture and demonstrate surgical procedures around the country.

All laser vision correction procedures are not the same. Because of our dedication to excellence, SureVision Laser Center-Midwest is recognized as the premium eye care provider in St. Louis and the surrounding area. Our surgeons are highly trained in a variety of laser vision corrections including ASA, PRK, LASEK and LASIK. In addition to special measurements of your prescription, corneal thickness and dim light pupil size, there are other factors such as age, general health, occupation, participation in hobbies and sports that must be taken into consideration to determine which procedure is right for you.

The SureVision Laser Center also has two different types of refractive laser, the Flying Spot LADARVision and the Broad Beam Apex Plus Laser. Each type of laser can perform some procedures that the other cannot and that allows us to offer you the best laser for your unique eye condition.

Following a comprehensive evaluation, our doctors and technical staff will be able to help you choose which procedure is best for your visual needs.

The fee for LASIK includes the evaluation, your vision correction procedure with LADARVisionâ technology along with post-operative care for one year. Fine tuning your correction with an enhancement is provided at no charge during the first year.

Some practices offer "lifetime guarantees" that are very restrictive and have hidden costs such as facility fees that are as much as $1000.00. Make sure you understand the restrictions and have in writing how much an "enhancement" will cost. Remember the laser surgery centers that sprouted up in St. Louis over the last few years and then suddenly disappeared. SureVision Eye Centers – Midwest has roots in this community that go back over 70 years. When you pay for a "lifetime guarantee" it is important to know whose "lifetime" that means.