What is your vision acuity corrected at this very moment?
If it is 20/40, you shall never receive 20/20.
BTW, a vision acuity of 20/20 after the surgery is not necessarily the same
comfortable vision as the old 20/20 (corrected) before!

You must also take into account the skill/experience levels of the
providers
who are doing the procedure. Which clinic is going to do the
better job with pre-op testing and post-op visits (in case something
goes wrong)? Does one clinic have a corneal specialist? Does one
clinic have an assembly line operation versus personalized care?
The laser is only as good as the clinician
IMO (I know you didn't want "opinions").  But I'd be much less
concerned
about the actual lasers used and more concerned about the surgeon
and staff.

frank

Both are very good.  Flip a coin, or make the decision base upon how
you perceive the doctor and staff.

DrG

You don't want any opinions? Then why did you ask the question in the
first place?! If there was one laser that was clearly and objectively
better, then no-one would buy or use the other one.

Anyway, I wouldn't read too much into the figures you quoted... there
are plenty more variables than that simple percentage. You can have
20/20 vision and still be unhappy with your outcome. As other posters
have suggested, the knowledge and experience of the surgeon, the pre and
post-op examinations, your refraction, and your eye's individual healing
qualities (etc) all make a bigger difference than what brand of laser is
used. Go with whoever created the best impression when you went to visit
them.

Dom

There are differences between the two laser systems.  Depending upon
your individual circumstances, those differences may be important or
without cause for concern.

If the Bausch & Lomb Technolas 217 is the 217z or Zyoptix system, it
uses a customized wavefront evaluation system to determine both low
order aberrations and higher order aberrations.  This information is
then used to create an ablation profile that is determined to a great
degree by your own individual eyes.  This is called "customized
wavefront".

If you are in the United States, the WaveLight Allegretto also has
utilized wavefront data, but in a different way.  Rather than taking
an evaluation of your individual eyes, Allegretto used wavefront data
in the lab to create an ablation profile that is optimized to provide
the best overall results.  This is called "wavefront optimized".

If your refractive error is low and if your higher order aberrations
are moderate, either laser will probably provide the same result
(assuming that all else is equal between the surgeons).  If you have
unusual higher order aberrations it may be that only the Zyoptix will
be appropriate or even that you should not have any surgery at all.
The only way to know is to have a wavefront evaluation.

We have a detailed article on this situation at
http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/wavefront_custom_lasik.htm that
you should read.

Glenn Hagele
Executive Director
Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance

Email to glenn dot hagele at usaeyes dot org

http://www.USAEyes.org
http://www.ComplicatedEyes.org

I am not a doctor.

Jeff,

That's probably with glasses or contacts. Uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or
better is probably 98%. Cosmetic surgeons employ extremely clever marketing
agencies to open your wallet. Abundans cautela non nocet ___There is no harm
done by great caution.

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/PDF2/P020050b.pdf

You can find information on other FDA approved lasers along with other important
information here...

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/lasik/risks.htm

Hope this helps



Robert Martellaro
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Optician/Owner
Roberts Optical
robopt@execpc.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
-  Anatole France

Make sure they use the new "Allegretto Wave Eye-Q" and not the "Allegretto wave"

Thank you very much to those who took the time to give thoughtful
responses.

Sorry for taking so long to follow-up to this topic, but I've been out
of the country for about a week (skiing in Whistler) and realizing just
how desperately I need this surgery!

The two clinics I'm comparing are www.texaslasik.com  and
www.lasikmd.ca.

My contact lens prescription reads:

8.4/14.4  -0.75  -1.75 x180   (Right Eye)
8.4/14.4  -0.50  -1.75 x180   (Left Eye)

I don't know if this says anything about my refractive error or my
astigmatism or what.

Mr. Hagele, is customized wavefront supposed to be better than
optimised, or (more likely) I assume it depends on the individual?

I've had my initial consult done at the Alegretto Wave clinic and I'm
supposed to be a great candidate for the procedure.

The Alegretto Wave (at TexasLasik) doesn't say online that it is Eye-Q.

Again, thanks for the all the feedback and I appreciate any further
info.

Regards,

Jeff