William Ellis, M.D. Named “Specialized Astigmatism Center”

William Ellis, M.D. Named “Specialized Astigmatism Center”
Providing the First Comprehensive LASIK Treatment of Astigmatism in San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento

Ellis Eye and Laser Medical Center has been named a “Specialized Astigmatism Center” by Technolas Perfect Vision GmbH (TPV), providing the first comprehensive LASIK treatment of Astigmatism approved by the FDA. Ellis Eye and Medical Laser Center is the first practice in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento to offer Advanced Control Eyetracking (ACE) on its Technolas LASIK platform.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 12, 2011

San Francisco, CA― More than one-in-three people in the US has astigmatism; many have been told they are not candidates for LASIK because they have astigmatism. (1) Ellis Eye and Laser Medical Center has been named a “Specialized Astigmatism Center” by Technolas Perfect Vision GmbH (TPV), providing the first comprehensive LASIK treatment of Astigmatism approved by the FDA. Ellis Eye and Medical Laser Center is the first practice in the San Francisco Bay Area to offer Advanced Control Eyetracking (ACE) on its Technolas LASIK platform. Eyetracking allows lasers used during LASIK surgery to compensate for eye movements during the procedure, thus adding an important level of assurance. However, no eyetracker has been able to adjust for subtle rotations of the eye that occur during the laser treatment – that is until now. Since subtle eye movements are common during the LASIK treatment this unique tracking technology ensures that the intended treatment precisely matches the eye’s prescription. This is especially important for patients who have astigmatism in addition to their nearsightedness or farsightedness, which represents the majority of contact lens and eyeglass wearers in the U.S.

“Many patients with astigmatism believe that they are not suitable candidates for laser vision correction. With the advent of ACE this is no longer true. We finally have a laser vision correction procedure that is ideally suited for the treatment of astigmatism,” said William Ellis, Chief Surgeon and Medical Director of Ellis Eye and Laser Medical Center. “This technology is one of a kind. Rotation of the eye during LASIK could result in less than full correction of astigmatism, which is very common among LASIK patients, and an increased chance of the need for a secondary enhancement procedure.”

“We have always been committed to bringing the latest technology available to the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Our LASIK practice has grown because we have been able to provide the best treatments for all of our patients with all prescriptions. This has enabled us to set ourselves apart from our competitors,” says Dr. Ellis.

Review of Laser Vision Correction Technology Available Today

No other LASIK system available in the US can compensate for eye rotation during the LASIK treatment. Both the Technolas ACE and VISX S4 IR (Abbot Medical Optics, Santa Ana, CA) trackers compensate for the cyclorotation of the eye that can occur between the sitting position during critical diagnostic measurements and lying down on the LASIK bed. However, only the Technolas ACE tracker can adjust the delivery of laser pulses in response to eye rotation during the LASIK treatment. Further, the Technolas ACE system is enabled for both conventional and custom wavefront-guided LASIK treatments, while the VISX S4 IR tracker cannot adjust for cyclotorsion associated with conventional LASIK treatments. The eyetrackers of the Wavelight and Ladarvision lasers (Alcon Laboratories, Fort Worth, TX) cannot compensate for eye rotation at all.

This new eyetracker also doubles the speed of tracking so as to allow the laser to rapidly adjust to the eye’s movements; response time with ACE is now under 7 milliseconds, or 0.007 seconds. ACE also adjusts for the pupil center shifting that can occur between light and dark settings, critical to the proper centering of customized LASIK treatments over the pupil.

About Ellis Eye and Laser Medical Center
Dr. William Ellis, M.D., F.A.C.S. has dedicated his career to bringing innovative surgical techniques to the restoration of vision. He began his career by studying electrical engineering at the University of California Berkeley. He received is medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis and completed his residency at Stanford University Medical Center in the Department of Ophthalmology. Dr. Ellis was Board Certified in general ophthalmology by the American Board of Ophthalmology and has been certified as a sub-specialist in cataract, intraocular lens implantation and refractive surgery by the American Board of Eye Surgery.

After his training in Ophthalmology at Stanford University, Dr. Ellis recognized the vision correction potential of LASIK, and was among the first in the U.S. to perform the LASIK procedure. He has personally performed over 50,000 LASIK procedures and also pioneered the bladeless thin flap Epi-LASIK procedure. In addition to LASIK, Dr. Ellis performs Advanced Surface Ablation also known as Epi-LASIK.

Dr. William Ellis and the Ellis Eye and Laser Medical Center are recognized as the premiere Northern California practice for refractive and laser vision correction procedures. His six Northern California offices (San Francisco, Walnut Creek, San Jose, Corte Madera, El Cerrito and Roseville) are conveniently located for patients living throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento.

1. 2008 Presbyopia Report, Market Scope, LLC, St. Louis, MO USA

News Media Contacts:
Name: Gwendoline Long
Contact: 925-377-0111
gwendoline@elliseye.com
www.elliseye.com

Editor’s Note: Technolas, the Technolas Perfect Vision logo, ACE, CUSTOMFLAP, CUSTOMSHAPE, HANSATOME, INTRACOR, ORBSCAN, ZYOPTIX, and ZYWAVE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Technolas Perfect Vision GmbH, Munich, Germany. Other trademarks are trademarks of the respective owners.

Additional Content:

In 1985 a haunting close up photo of an Afhan refugee girl appeared on the cover of National Geographic Magazine. Seventeen years later the magazine set out to try and locate her. The search was successful, but only after the woman was positively identified using iris recognition technology. According to National Geographic, “Iris patterns are even more individual than fingerprints. So the Geographic turned to the inventor of automatic iris recognition, John Daugman, a professor of computer science at England’s University of Cambridge. His biometric technique uses mathematical calculations, and the numbers Daugman got left no question in his mind that the haunted eyes of the young Afghan refugee and the eyes of the adult Sharbat Gula belong to the same person.” (1)

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/mccurry-photography