About the Caster Eye Center
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Dr. Caster has performed almost 30,000 vision correction procedures.
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The Caster Eye Center is dedicated exclusively to Custom Lasik laser vision correction. When you focus all of your talents and energy in one area, you learn how to do it very, very well.
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With over 150 surgeons in the Los Angeles area performing Lasik, Dr. Caster was selected by Los Angeles Magazine as the "Best Laser Eye Surgeon in Los Angeles." According to Los Angeles Magazine, to be selected as "Best of Los Angeles", "you simply have to do something much better than anyone else does."
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Many world-class professional athletes, including top professionals in basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, boxing, and soccer, have entrusted Dr. Caster to improve their vision and performance with Lasik.
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At the Caster Eye Center, we will only treat you if we believe that we can obtain an excellent result. Approximately 30% of the patients that come to us for Lasik are advised not to have the procedure, because we believe they are not ideal candidates.
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Caster Eye Center offers three lasers: WaveLight Allegretto, Visx S4, and LadarVision. These lasers use the wavefront custom cornea technology to achieve superior daytime and nighttime vision.
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Dr. Caster’s book, The Eye Laser Miracle: The Complete Guide to Better Vision, is now in its 5th printing and is the most widely-read book in the United States on the subject of laser vision correction. It has been used at Harvard Medical School and by eye doctors across the United States to educate their patients about laser vision correction. (As part of your pre-Lasik consultation with Dr. Caster, we will give you a copy of the book!)
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Dr. Caster is one of only a few Lasik surgeons in Southern California (and one of less than 250 in the entire United States) to meet the extremely high quality standards required to become certified by the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance.
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Dr. Caster has been honored by Visx, a laser manufacturer, as one of the "Top 50" Laser Vision Correction doctors in the United States for four years in a row.
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Our laser room is dust-free and has strict temperature and humidity control. |
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People travel to the Caster Eye Center for expert treatment of their eyes from across the United States and from many other countries. In fact, our patients have traveled to us from every continent in the world! These people know that at the Caster Eye Center they will receive the highest quality laser vision correction available anywhere in the world.
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Superior results require the highest quality equipment, as well as a commitment to quality in every step of the process. At the Caster Eye Center we use only the highest quality FDA-approved lasers - the WaveLight Allegretto, the Alcon LadarVision, and the Visx S4. These lasers use the wavefront custom cornea technology to create exceptionally sharp daytime and nighttime vision.
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A commitment to the highest quality goes far beyond using the most advanced equipment. Our laser room is temperature and humidity controlled to a degree unmatched by other centers. Attention to detail (such as calibration, maintenance, and technician quality), use of the finest equipment, and Dr. Caster's extensive knowledge and experience combine to produce our highly accurate results.
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In addition to treating thousands of patients, Dr. Caster has had his own nearsightedness and astigmatism corrected with the Lasik technique. This personal experience helps Dr. Caster to understand your needs and concerns in a very personal way. |
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About Our Doctors
FDA Studies at the Caster Eye Center
The Caster Eye Center is continually involved in research to advance the field of laser vision correction. Dr. Caster was one of the twenty doctors in the United States that performed Lasik treatments resulting in the original FDA approval for Lasik (CRS/USA). We have conducted research using the Visx and LadarVision Custom treatments. We have also conducted important studies to avoid irregular vision.
We at the Caster Eye Center are proud of our role in helping to develop and test new laser technologies that will improve the vision of patients everywhere.
To see a list of recent Lasik research presentations by Dr. Caster,
please click here.
Technology at the Caster Eye Center
No one has technology that surpasses the Caster Eye Center. We have a commitment to using the most advanced and up-to-date equipment available, and we continue to remain at the forefront of technology for laser vision correction.
Of course, the manner in which the technology is used -- how it is programmed, how it is maintained, the many choices made by the physician -- is more important than the raw technology itself.
Laser Technology
At the Caster Eye Center, we have three lasers for your benefit: WaveLight Allegretto, Visx S4, and LadarVision. The most accurate treatments are being obtained with the WaveLight Allegretto laser, so that is the laser that we use for most treatments. The Allegretto is the only laser that has been designed specifically for Custom treatments; unlike other lasers, all treatments with the Allegretto laser are Custom treatments.
For more information about the Allegretto laser, please click here
Temperature and Humidity Control
Laser treatments are more precise when the temperature and humidity in the laser room are carefully controlled. At the Caster Eye Center, our laser room has precise temperature and humidity control. Our laser room is also dust-free. By taking these extra steps, we are able to achieve the most accurate vision for our patients.
Outcome Analysis
One of the most important (but most difficult) tools to improve the accuracy of the results is through Outcome Analysis. Caster Eye Center has been an industry leader in Outcome Analysis, using this technique continuously since 1991. In 1994, Dr. Caster was honored with the UCLA Department of Ophthalmology Alumni Research Award for his development and use of Outcome Analysis.
Each laser is supplied with software formulas that tell the laser how many pulses to use for any given level of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. These formulas, however, represent an average number of pulses needed for the typical surgeon using this laser, using a typical technique, in a room with typical temperature and humidity. The problem is: no two surgeons/techniques/rooms are identical, so reliance on the laser software produces average (but not exceptional) results. Many surgeons alter the laser formulas, but not in a reliable, scientific way.
Outcome Analysis is the systematic collection and mathematical analysis of results in a way that allows for adjustment in laser formulas. It is very time consuming and involves use of computer programs that perform multiple regression analysis. By routinely analyzing the multiple regression analyses of these outcomes, we are constantly making small modifications in our laser formulas. This dramatically improves our results. It is an on-going quality improvement feed-back loop that is very difficult and time-consuming, but is one of the most important ways that we produce the most accurate results possible. It only useful in a setting where the technique – the surgeon, the equipment, the room temperature and humidity – are held constant.
Pupil Size Assessment
In the past, one of the most troublesome aspects of laser vision correction has been an increase in halos at night. Poor night vision may be the result of the treatment area being too small in relation to the size of the fully dilated pupil (your pupil dilates – enlarges – when you go into the dark). The newer Custom wavefront technology allows for dramatically larger treatment zones, resulting in much improved night vision.
It is essential to have an accurate way of measuring the pupil size in the dark. If you shine a light onto the eye to measure the pupil size, then the pupil gets smaller in response to the light, and you are not measuring the true maximum size of the pupil.
A new, more accurate device is now available to measure pupil size in the dark – the Procyon 2000SA Pupillometer. The Caster Eye Center is the first practice in California to own and use this technology. This computerized device makes ten different pupil size measurements at each of three different light levels. This has taken pupil size determination to a much higher level.
Flap Creation
Creation of the Lasik flap is the part of the procedure that seems to concern most patients. At the Caster Eye Center, we use two methods to create the Lasik flap: the IntraLase laser and the Zyoptix microkeratome. Most patients can have the flap made using either technique. Each has small advantages and disadvantages, and we will discuss the appropriateness of each method for you during your consultation. After the flap is created, the vision is then corrected using the treatment laser.
The creation of the flap is not painful and takes about 20 seconds. Most people say that they had a feeling of pressure (not pain) during the flap creation. Also, you are not able to see the flap being made. After the procedure is complete, the flap is simply laid back into position, where it sticks down in place by itself without stitches or glue.
For some patients, it is best to not make a flap at all. This "Lasik without a flap" is known by several names, including Lasik, PRK, and Advanced Surface Treatment. For some patients with relatively thin corneas, large pupils, very high corrections (or a combination of these), Lasik without a flap may allow for the largest treatment size, which may be important in diminishing glare and halos. Also, patients with very significant dryness will benefit from Lasik without a flap, which does not cause any increase in the symptoms of dryness. Lasik without a flap does have a slower, more prolonged healing period. We will discuss with you which option is best for your particular situation.
LOCATION AND DIRECTIONS TO CASTER EYE CENTER
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