As always, we are pleased to offer the latest developments in corneal and refractive surgery at the Buzard Eye Institute and this facility was first in the state of Nevada. We invite you to visit this exciting facility at the Buzard Eye Institute. The excimer laser produces ultraviolet light which has the ability to remove corneal tissue almost without disturbing surrounding tissue. This ultraviolet light can then be shaped with lenses and controlled with a computer to actually create a corrective lens on the surface of the cornea. More nearsightedness would remove more corneal tissue while a small correction would require only a small amount of corneal tissue removal.
Corneal tissue is removed simply by exposing tissue to the ultraviolet light.
The longer the cornea is exposed to the beam of light, the more tissue is removed. Astigmatism can be corrected by adding an expanding slit to this arrangement, thus exposing one meridian of the cornea to more ultraviolet light than the opposing meridian, a feature found only on the VISX laser and not on the Summit. Last Updated on August 28, 2001.