German medical company, Carl Zeiss Meditec will begin sales of the innovative “VisuMax” LASIK surgery system in Europe and the United States in the second half of 2007. The “VisuMax” system incorporates a femtosecond fiber laser FCPA µJewel developedby AISIN EUROPE sister company IMRA America, Inc. , a U.S. research and development company owned by Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd.

LASIK is the most common procedure for surgical vision correction such as myopia and astigmatism. In the United States, it is said that more than one million patients receive LASIK surgery each year. This technique has also been increasingly used from around the year 2000 in Japan, where several tens of thousand people undergo the LASIK procedure every year. The “VisuMax” system combines the world-leading optical lens technology of Carl Zeiss and the state-of-the-art femtosecond laser technology of IMRA America, Inc. The result is the new LASIK flap cut technique that greatly increases safety and reliability.