Research
Wake Forest University Eye Center has always been a National leader when it comes to improving and advancing eye care. Dr. Walter has contributed significantly in the field of Ophthalmology and specifically in the area of refractive surgery. Dr. Walter’s main focus has been on improving LASIK outcomes. He keeps track of all of his LASIK outcomes to carefully monitor results. In 2004, he published a landmark article concerning the environmental effects of temperature and humidity on LASIK surgery. This research has been reported in the various media outlets, such as Time magazine, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Shape Magazine, Men’s Health Magazine, CNN and other news outlets. (links)
Dr. Walter’s study showed that the outdoor humidity in the days prior to the LASIK procedure could reduce the effect of the laser, causing small undercorrections in more humidity weeks and small overcorrections in more dry weeks. Controlling room humidity helps reduce this effect but there is still a small need to compensate the power of the laser during these extreme conditions.
This probably is due to the extra water in the cornea, causing the laser to remove less collagen than intended. Currently, Wake Forest University Eye Center is capable of correcting for this with a small adjustment at the laser, achieving excellent results and low enhancement (re-do) rates. There is no need to avoid having your LASIK surgery during the summer months as it turns out it is better to adjust the laser according to the daily fluctuations in humidity. Dr. Walter continues his research in this area and is working with Wavelight lasers to detect the exact amount of extra water in the cornea prior to laser ablation.
