Ophthalmologists Serving Northridge, San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles, CA

We understand that the decision to have LASIK eye surgery is a personal one. Dr. Shultz and Dr. Chang are highly skilled surgeons uniquely qualified to address your visual needs. Together, they have performed thousands of LASIK eye surgeries. Please read our patient testimonials to see what people from all walks of life have to say about their experience with our center and Drs. Shultz and Chang. Then, call to schedule your complimentary LASIK evaluation to determine which procedure is right for your eyes. Our office number is (818) 349-8300, or email info@shultz-chang.com.

Continue below for more information on LASIK eye surgery, CustomVue and CustomCornea treatments.

LASIK is a refractive surgical procedure to help correct vision problems. The term LASIK is an abbreviation or acronym for laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis, which means "to reshape the cornea, from within, using a laser." In LASIK, the corneal surface is treated underneath a protective corneal flap. It is one of several corrective procedures for the treatment of familiar vision problems that you may already have heard of, including nearsightedness, farsightedness and/or astigmatism.

While glasses and contact lenses also help correct problems such as these, they are considered vision aids, not surgical procedures. LASIK and other procedures are, in fact, designed to help people eliminate or reduce the need for glasses or contact lenses. LASIK is not the appropriate procedure for everyone, and it is important to know if it is right for you.

You may experience nearsightedness, farsightedness and/or astigmatism because your cornea is inadequately shaped for the dimensions of your eye. In use since the late 1980s, LASIK utilizes a laser beam to remove small amounts of tissue from the cornea to reshape it and correct the refractive error. The reshaped cornea then focuses images directly on the retina. For many patients, a successful LASIK procedure can mean clearer vision with the potential to eliminate glasses or contact lenses.

There's a new LASIK procedure called CustomCornea that promises to deliver truly customized vision correction. This exciting new procedure can treat all of the conditions LASIK surgery is traditionally used to correct, as well as a range of vision problems that could not be detected before. Experts believe these problems, called higher order aberrations, are responsible for many low-light vision problems, including glare and halos. In October 2002, CustomCornea became the first FDA-approved laser vision correction procedure capable of measuring and treating higher order aberrations.

Your vision is unique - as personal as your fingerprint or your DNA. WaveScan® technology provides your eye doctor with a map of your vision.

WaveScan Technology

Initially, you will meet with Dr. Shultz or Dr. Chang for a complete medical evaluation and eye history to determine whether you are a good candidate for the CustomVue procedure. Your doctor will discuss the benefits and risks of the procedure with you.

In addition to other diagnostic tests, a WaveScan measurement will be taken to map the unique characteristics of your vision. An individualized treatment plan can then be developed to address your unique vision needs. Once it is confirmed that you are a good candidate, Dr. Shultz or Dr. Chang will schedule you for a CustomVue procedure.

The CustomVue Procedure

On procedure day, you will be seated in a reclined position. Anesthetic drops will be placed in your eyes, and a flap will be created on your cornea. Your individualized treatment information is transferred from the WaveScan to the laser in order to drive the CustomVue procedure. The actual laser procedure typically takes several seconds. The majority of individuals feel no pain during the procedure.

After CustomVue, you will notice results immediately, and your vision will continue to improve over the next few days. You will be scheduled for a follow-up visit the next day and again several weeks after the initial procedure.

So are you ready? Please contact a member of our staff to schedule your complimentary LASIK evaluation now, at 818-349-8300 or info@shultz-chang.com.

Traditional LASIK surgery can provide excellent results in correcting a wide range of common vision problems like nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. These vision problems are known as lower order aberrations.

CustomCornea is a new kind of LASIK procedure that takes a similar approach and can help with many of the same visual problems. There are two reasons CustomCornea is different. CustomCornea is the first laser vision correction procedure to go beyond reshaping your cornea based on your prescription for eyeglasses or contacts. The procedure is completely customized to your eyes and your eyes alone. Secondly, CustomCornea can help with other vision problems that could not be detected previously, known as higher order aberrations. Experts believe these aberrations can be responsible for vision problems like glare and halos in low-light conditions and at night.

Higher order aberrations cannot be treated by traditional laser vision correction procedures or even by wearing glasses or contacts. In October 2002, CustomCornea® became the first laser vision correction procedure FDA approved to address higher order aberrations.

There are three steps to every CustomCornea procedure; Capture, Match and Treat.

Capture

In this first step, the LADARWave® wavefront device is used to capture your eyes' unique combination of higher and lower aberrations. These devices create a wavefront map of each eye by shining an eye-safe beam of laser light into the eye and measuring the reflected light waves as they pass through your visual system and exit the eye.

In this second stage, a wavefront map for each eye is input to the laser system and converted to a guide for the laser. When both patient and doctor are ready for surgery to begin, the map is computer-matched with the eye's exact position so the treatment is extremely precise. Since each eye has its own unique wavefront map, treatment with CustomCornea is truly customized.

If Dr. Shultz determines that CustomCornea treatment is right for you, then your cornea will be reshaped using the state of the art LADARVision 4000, guided by the data from the wavefront map. The treatment is designed to correct your unique profile of both lower and higher order aberrations at the same time.

So are you ready? Please contact a member of our staff to schedule your complimentary LASIK evaluation at 818-349-8300 or info@shultz-chang.com.

Photorefractive Keratectomy, or PRK, was the first FDA approved surgical procedure developed to reshape the cornea using a laser. The major difference between LASIK and PRK is the way the middle layer of the cornea is treated. With LASIK, a flap is created in the top layer, folded back for the reshaping of the underlying corneal tissue beneath the protective corneal flap and immediately put back into position at the end of the procedure. With PRK, the laser makes direct contact with the cornea after pulling back or removing the top layer, called the epithelium. Thus, no protective flap is created. After reshaping the resulting exposed corneal tissue, the top layer, or epithelium, is left to heal with time during a natural healing process and without the aid of a protective flap. Generally, there is more discomfort with PRK than with LASIK. However, under certain conditions, Dr. Shultz may recommend PRK instead of LASIK.

One common vision problem, presbyopia, cannot currently be treated by any laser vision correction surgery. This condition is the result of an inelastic lens, not a misshaped cornea, and is part of the natural aging process for many people. If you have presbyopia and require reading glasses, laser vision correction surgery will not correct the problem. Although results vary from patient to patient, if you currently wear contact lenses to correct nearsightedness or farsightedness along with reading glasses for presbyopia, laser vision correction may eliminate or reduce the need for the contact lenses, but not for the reading glasses. If you are interested in the treatment of Presbyopia, please refer to the Crystalens section of this website for a new exciting alternative to LASIK in which cataracts, refractive error and Presbyopia are addressed.