'Wavefront' charts new way for eye tests

By Deena Beasley

Los Angeles - The next time you go to the eye doctor, chances are a machine will be able to tell whether you can make out "T Z V E C L" before you even try to read the eye chart.

That's because the 100-year-old system used by ophthalmologists to find your eye prescription is likely to be replaced by technology - invented by an astrophysicist - that can precisely measure how light waves are bent by each human eye.

Several companies are working on commercial "wavefront" technology and at least one version, priced in the same
$30 000-$50 000 (R180 000-R300 000) range as other ophthalmic diagnostic imaging systems, is expected on the market later this year.

Since the current method relies on the patient's judgment of whether a particular set of lenses results in better vision, access to more objective, scientific data will give doctors much more accurate measurements, makers of the devices say.

In addition, the combination of wavefront measurements with increasingly popular vision correction surgery enables surgeons to directly input a map of the patient's eye into the lasers used to reshape the cornea.

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