Narrator: This is Science Today. Laser technologies have revolutionized the field of vision correction. Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler of UCLA says laser procedures for astigmatism and near-sightedness surpass standard laser refractive procedures in terms of efficiency and patient comfort.

Wachler: More people can expect to get good vision the next day and go back to work. It's something that five years ago; we would have had a hard problem offering it to the same range of people.

Narrator: Dr. Boxer Wachler has been using a new 'laser disc' technology to correct astigmatism with or without nearsightedness.

Wachler: I'm finding when I say that now we can correct astigmatism, most people are very surprised. They didn't know that we had that capability, but we do and it's very effective. When we look to the future, There are going to be new techniques and technologies that include lasers and some non-laser technologies to correct people's visual problems. And I think we'll be seeing shortly a laser approved to correct farsightedness.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.