The lasers we have available in our center today are 2:the AMARIS 1050 Hz excimer laser and the VISUMAX 800 femtosecond laser. The choice of which technique to use depends essentially on the clinical characteristics of the individual patient and the type of defect to be corrected; in fact, the technology must be adapted and customized to each patient.

The AMARIS 1050 Hz Excimer Laser represents the highest level of technology on the market today: extremely high treatment precision, maximum reliability and eye-tracker speed, and the ability to perform custom corrections to improve visual performance in eyes that have low visual qualities. This laser is also increasingly being used, in a very select manner, together with cross-linking treatment, for visual rehabilitation in patients with keratoconus.

The VISUMAX 800 femtosecond laser; can be considered to all intents and purposes a kind of light-bulb that in an ultra-precise manner is able to perform super-thin flaps (corneal flaps); combined with the excimer laser it gives rise to the FemtoLasik technique for the treatment of major visual defects: myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, presbyopia.

The procedure for both eyes in the same session takes about 15 minutes, and postoperative discomfort persists for 3-4 hours. Functional visual recovery occurs as early as 12-24 hours, and the recovery time is really fast.

The VISUMAX 800 femtosecond laser is the real novelty in the laser field today, especially for myopia and astigmatism: it consists of the possibility of performing the latest and most modern SMILE refractive technique with the enormous advantage of correcting the defect, weakening the cornea less by going to work in the deepest and weakest part of the cornea itself and preserving the stronger and anterior part, as well as causing less risk of post-laser dryness.

At the San Rossore Eye Unit of the Casa di Cura San Rossore, this method has become the gold-standard for the correction of myopia and astigmatism in all patients, but particularly in sportsmen, in medium to high myopia and in patients with mild dry eye.

The San Rossore Eye Unit of the Casa di Cura San Rossore, where around 2,500 laser operations are performed every year, 1,500 cataract operations of which 70 per cent are carried out using laser-guided robot technology, is the second centre in Italy to have the new VISUMAX 800 laser capable of performing the SMILE technique in 10 seconds and a flap in 7 seconds.