LASIK Eye Surgery

LASIK eye surgery is refractive surgery for correcting nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. This surgery is carried out by ophthalmologists using a laser and is some what similar to photorefractive keratectomy.

Laser is used underneath the corneal flap to remodel the cornea. Laser takes care of refractive errors, improve vision, and lessen or completely eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses. This way the shape of the cornea is adjusted. And according to surveys patients are 92 to 98 % satisfied in this and are less dependent on glasses or contact lenses.

The whole surgery involves many preparatory steps before operating. The operation itself involves forming a thin flap on the eye, folding it to allow the reshaping of the tissue beneath with a laser. Then the flap is relocated. And lastly, eye is left to restore to health in the postoperative period.

For people having complains about nearsightedness, LASIK eye surgery will flatten the cornea that is way too steep. People suffering from farsightedness, a steeper cornea is preferred. The surgery will correct astigmatism by evening out of an irregular cornea into a more normal shape.

Before deciding on the surgery you should first consult a good LASIK surgeon who will study your eyes to determine their health, type of vision rectification you need, and how much corneal tissue removal is required.

• Corneal Onlays/Inlays which blend with your eye's surface
• Custom Wavefront LASIK
• Epi-Lasik which uses a special cutting tool to remove the cornea's outer layer.
• IntraLase which is bladeless LASIK using a second laser but not a blade
• Lasek is a procedure used mostly for thin corneas without flap
• Presby LASIK is a laser eye surgery for presbyopes
• Photorefractive keratectomy the original laser eye surgery

Though LASIK eye surgery is a successful procedure, but there are some risks involved too. And it should be borne in mind about the consequences which might result and potential risks and complications before going for the surgery.

• Majority of the patients are satisfied after a single treatment, but at times a second surgery is needed as quality vision is not achieved initially. Patients with more extreme recommendation are at more risk for needing the second surgery. It cannot be carried out for months after the first surgery, allowing for your eyes to heal appropriately. There are even chances that you can’t have the second surgery because corneas are too thin or oddly shaped after surgery.

• There are rare chances of need of glasses or contact lenses after surgery for getting best vision results though. If the surgeries are done for both eyes, for better distance vision, the need for glasses would still be there for nearer work when presbyopia develops in later years.
• The results may not be permanent forpatients with hyperopia (farsightedness) as a deterioration of the treatment effect couple of years later after the surgery. People who use reading glasses are more likely to have the need of an additional surgery many years after your initial one.

• There are chances of visual aberrations,especially in low light. A decrease in visual quality include the difference in refractive powers between the two eyes, difference in size of image between the two eyes, dual vision, unclear vision, irregular visions, high level of light sensitivity etc.
• A lot of people experience some dry-eye signs immediately after surgery. In some cases, people may develop worsening of dry-eye, like burning, redness, or even decreased vision. This is kind of permanent and requires medication for improving the tear production.

• Hardly ever, the surgery may result in worsening of vision and cannot be rectified with glasses or contact lenses. The reason behind it could be flap-related problems, faults of surgical utensils, virus, marking, etc.

The Advantages Of LASIK Surgery:

• LASIK can perfectly correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
• The procedure is painless and takes only five to ten minutes.
• The laser is accurate as it is monitored through computer.
• Usually surgery will achieve the expected result; but low chances of second surgery do exists.

• Results vary from patient to patient.
• The surgery might worsen some part of vision.
• LASIK can make dry-eye signs worsen.
• There are chances of vision worsening which can not be corrected with regular glasses or contact lenses.