VisuMax: The world’s most highly-evolved femtosecond laser.

Safe. Gentle. Amazing.

by Craig Bindi, MD

Six features that differentiate the VisuMax from other femtosecond lasers:

As the Bay Area’s #1 user of the Visumax femtosecond laser, Dr. Craig Bindi has been using the VisuMax for 100% of  SMILE LASIK procedures, and the 80% of LASIK procedures since 2016. 

1. It’s the ONLY laser FDA-approved for SMILE.
   The VisuMax is the ONLY femtosecond laser capable of performing the SMILE LASIK procedure, which in a minimally-invasive painless, bladeless, flapless laser procedure can treat nearsightedness. SMILE is FDA-approved to treat pure nearsightedness with astigmatism up to 3D. But for patients with farsightedness or severe astigmatism, LASIK or Epi-LASIK/PRK may be more effective options than SMILE.
2. “Air LASIK” with VisuMax is more gentle.
   Striving for the most ideal patient experience, the VisuMax laser is the most comfortable femtosecond laser for All-Laser LASIK due to it’s intelligently-designed curved contact surface. The VisuMax offers a more natural and customizable anatomical fit compared to the one-size-fits-all planar-flat contact surfaces of the Ziemer, FS200 and Intralase femtosecond lasers. In fact, the minimal pressure of the VisuMax (50mmHg) is not felt by a patient compared to 150-180 mmHg that can be uncomfortable with all other femto-lasers that have to firmly press down to operate. The unsurpassed patient experience with VisuMax has lead it to be referred to as “Air LASIK” since most patients “literally feel nothing” and eyes appear white and untouched within seconds after the procedure.
3. VisuMax is more precise.
   The German-engineered ultra-precision laser optics by Zeiss render an optimally-focused laser beam precisely aimed at an exact fixed-depth. Only the VisuMax laser provides its nearly-ideal positional accuracy and spatial precision, as sequential laser pulses are placed at a fixed depth (within 3 microns), compared to 6-12 microns of variance with other femto laser systems. In fact, the VisuMax only uses about 14% of the total laser energy compared to other femtosecond lasers to minimize potential side effects and inflammation.
4. Only VisuMax is truly “aligned” with one’s visual axis.
   In addition to being more comfortable, the true benefit of the VisuMax’s curved contact surface is that it allows one to maintain visual fixation due to its minimally-induced pressure. This allows the VisuMax laser treatment to be properly-aligned on one’s “true visual axis”, rather than one’s pupil as a landmark as with all other femtosecond lasers. This true alignment feature combined with ideal spatial-positional accuracy explain why only the VisuMax is capable of a single-step femtosecond laser refractive procedure, such as SMILE, which would be impossible without these capabilities.
5. VisuMax is finished in a blink.
   With a rapid laser pulse frequency of 500 pulses per second, VisuMax is done with LASIK in only 10-15 seconds per eye, and done with SMILE in about 30 seconds per eye. And, yes, there’s an instrument that gently prevents blinking during the process. So, VisuMax is practically done before the patient even knows it began!
6. And…VisuMax can do what other femtosecond lasers can do, too.
   Lastly, the VisuMax is fully customizable to individualize each laser parameter and setting, which allows for inverted-bevel reverse-side edge architecture, perfectly-planar flap configuration, expanded geometrical treatment dimensions, etc. (So, basically, it’s pretty amazing!)

Combining the Best of Both Worlds

As the first center in the Bay Area to perform All-Laser Wavefront LASIK with a femtosecond laser in 2003, Dr. Craig Bindi has upgraded through six generations of femtosecond lasers. After decades of technological improvements, we’ve combined our 6th generation VisuMax femtosecond laser (left) with our 6th generation EX500 Allegretto wavefront  excimer laser (right), for the most advanced version of All-Laser Wavefront LASIK, Wavefront Epi-LASIK and SMILE LASIK available anywhere!

Our 6th Generation VisuMax femtosecond laser

Our 6th Generation Ex500 Allegretto wavefront laser