A doctor uses the LADARVision 4000 to perform LASIK eye surgery.

A technology developed originally for docking satellites and spacecraft is now being used to enhance life on Earth through LASIK, the most widely performed laser vision-correction surgery.

LADARVision® tracking technology was originally developed in a joint effort between NASA and the Department of Defense’s Ballistic Missile Defense Office for docking satellites and spacecraft. The U.S. military, in developing target tracking and weapons firing control, also used this specialized technology.

Alcon Inc., a Fort Worth, Texas, company, then developed the invention commercially through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program at Johnson Space Center. This work in the area of pointing and scanning laser beams led to the LADARVision eye surgery system.

When a surgeon uses the LADARVision system, the doctor sees an image just like one that a fighter pilot would see as he tracks a target. The doctor uses the image to track involuntary eye movements during LASIK surgery at a rate of 4,000 per second, 15 times faster than any other LASIK system used today.

Eye surgeons across the country are utilizing the LADARVision 4000 for LASIK surgery. In October 2002, Alcon’s LADARVision system, consisting of LADARVision 4000 and the LADARWave wavefront measurement device, became the first to gain FDA approval for wavefront-guided LASIK. The resulting procedure, called CustomCornea, allows surgeons to measure and address visual distortions that previously went undetected. The precision of the tracking device and the small spot beam make the LADARVision system the premier equipment to deliver these precise treatments.

The technology was awarded a Certified Space Technology™ seal and inducted in 2004 into the Space Foundation’s Technology Hall of Fame.

NASA Official: Janelle Turner • Web Design: Printing & Design Office, NASA Headquarters • Credits