Twin Cities eye clinic becomes first in U.S. to offer WaveLight Plus LASIK

Sean Nolan spent most of his life relying on his glasses because of astigmatism. The 26-year-old ski racer and coach says that changed after a new LASIK procedure.

"As soon as I got off the table, there was a clock; I'm not sure if it was that clock, it might have been. As soon as I got off the table, I could see it perfectly and I was like, 'OK,'" said Nolan.

Sean had WaveLight Plus LASIK at OVO LASIK + Lens, the first clinic in the U.S. selected to offer the technology.

The system uses light tracing and more than 1,500 data points to create a personalized treatment plan.

"What this new technology known as ray tracing does is it traces thousands of single beams of light through different parts of the eye and can see how light hitting the top of the cornea might be focused different from that at the nine o'clock or three o'clock position. Not only are we learning how each individual patient sees but how each individual eyes sees and then improving that, maximizing that vision potential. So, no two treatments are ever identical," said Dr. Mark Lobanoff, founder and medical director of OVO LASIK + LENS in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

Lobanoff helped develop the technology with Alcon before OVO was chosen to introduce it to U.S. patients. He says LASIK has evolved rapidly since his first surgery 27 years ago.

"A lot of the misconceptions from LASIK occur from those early days with equipment that we don't even use anymore. Everything's gotten accurate, more precise, safer for the patient," said Lobanoff.

The procedure itself is still quick and pain-free, with patients able to drive with improved vision the next day.

Sean is now 20/15, seeing things he never realized he was missing.

"All of the sudden, boom. You can see incredible detail and your eyes aren't, they're not changing as much because the thing that was wrong about them is now right. It's kind of cool. There was a whole other world there that I just wasn't seeing," said Nolan.

While no vision procedure can guarantee a lifetime result, Lobanoff says the goal with WaveLight Plus is a more precise correction that may reduce the need for future enhancements.

It typically costs a few hundred dollars more per eye than traditional LASIK, depending on special offers.