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Commonly asked questions about Lasik laser procedures

Understanding Lasik Laser Surgery

What is Lasik Laser Surgery

what is lasik laser

Vision is one your most important senses, and in a sense, it’s one of the most fragile. As a result, doctors and researchers have looked for better ways to correct vision problems since the invention of eyeglasses. The invention of the excimer (ultraviolet wavelength) laser in the 1970s provided a new tool, and in 1988, the first laser eye surgery was performed. The LASIK procedure was approved in the U.S. in 1999.

 

LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted-In-Situ Keratomileusis. Keratomileusis is the technical term for surgically reshaping your cornea, which is the rounded, transparent cover over your iris and pupil.

 

Your cornea helps you focus on the images you look at. LASIK surgery changes your cornea’s shape to correct common vision problems, such as:

  • Astigmatism
  • Hyperopia (farsightedness)
  • Myopia (nearsightedness)

In a very short time, LASIK eye surgery has become the most popular elective surgery in the country. The procedure — also known as laser vision correction or refractive surgery — has a proven track record as an outpatient procedure. Corrective eye surgery with the LASIK procedure can improve your eyesight to the point that you no longer need corrective lenses.

Are you the right candidate?

Candidates for lasik laser surgery

Are you the right candidate for Lasik laser surgery ?

Don’t undergo LASIK eye surgery if you’re pregnant or nursing,

as your hormones affect many different parts of your body, including your eyes. For example, during these times, you may have different eye measurements.

Your eyes have to be stable to get the most from a LASIK procedure.

Also, don’t have the procedure if you take such prescription medications such as:

  • Prednisone
  • Imitrex
  • Cardarone
  • Accutane

Before your eye surgeon performs your corrective eye surgery, he examines your eyes to ensure that they are otherwise healthy.

Laser eye surgery isn’t a miracle cure; it only fixes the shape of your cornea.

In fact, it works best when your prescription hasn’t changed in a while. Your eyes have to be healthy for you to bounce back with improved vision.

Risk of lasik laser

Risk of lasik laser

Most patients are very pleased with the results of their refractive surgery. However, like any other medical procedure, there are risks involved. That’s why it is important for you to understand the limitations and possible complications of refractive surgery.

Before undergoing a refractive procedure, you should carefully weigh the risks and benefits based on your own personal value system, and try to avoid being influenced by friends that have had the procedure or doctors encouraging you to do so.

  • Some patients lose vision. Some patients lose lines of vision on the vision chart that cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or surgery as a result of treatment.
  • Some patients develop debilitating visual symptoms. Some patients develop glare, halos, and/or double vision that can seriously affect nighttime vision. Even with good vision on the vision chart, some patients do not see as well in situations of low contrast, such as at night or in fog, after treatment as compared to before treatment.
  • You may be under treated or over treated. Only a certain percent of patients achieve 20/20 vision without glasses or contacts. You may require additional treatment, but additional treatment may not be possible. You may still need glasses or contact lenses after surgery. This may be true even if you only required a very weak prescription before surgery. If you used reading glasses before surgery, you may still need reading glasses after surgery.
  • Some patients may develop severe dry eye syndrome. As a result of surgery, your eye may not be able to produce enough tears to keep the eye moist and comfortable. Dry eye not only causes discomfort, but can reduce visual quality due to intermittent blurring and other visual symptoms. This condition may be permanent. Intensive drop therapy and use of plugs or other procedures may be required.
  • Results are generally not as good in patients with very large refractive errors of any type. You should discuss your expectations with your doctor and realize that you may still require glasses or contacts after the surgery.
  • For some farsighted patients, results may diminish with age. If you are farsighted, the level of improved vision you experience after surgery may decrease with age. This can occur if your manifest refraction (a vision exam with lenses before dilating drops) is very different from your cycloplegic refraction (a vision exam with lenses after dilating drops).
  • Long-term data are not available. LASIK is a relatively new technology. The first laser was approved for LASIK eye surgery in 1998. Therefore, the long-term safety and effectiveness of LASIK surgery is not known.

Additional Risks if you are Considering the Following:

  • Monovision

Monovision is one clinical technique used to deal with the correction of presbyopia, the gradual loss of the ability of the eye to change focus for close-up tasks that progresses with age. The intent of monovision is for the presbyopic patient to use one eye for distance viewing and one eye for near viewing. This practice was first applied to fit contact lens wearers and more recently to LASIK and other refractive surgeries. With contact lenses, a presbyopic patient has one eye fit with a contact lens to correct distance vision, and the other eye fit with a contact lens to correct near vision. In the same way, with LASIK, a presbyopic patient has one eye operated on to correct the distance vision, and the other operated on to correct the near vision. In other words, the goal of the surgery is for one eye to have vision worse than 20/20, the commonly referred to goal for LASIK surgical correction of distance vision. Since one eye is corrected for distance viewing and the other eye is corrected for near viewing, the two eyes no longer work together. This results in poorer quality vision and a decrease in depth perception. These effects of monovision are most noticeable in low lighting conditions and when performing tasks requiring very sharp vision. Therefore, you may need to wear glasses or contact lenses to fully correct both eyes for distance or near when performing visually demanding tasks, such as driving at night, operating dangerous equipment, or performing occupational tasks requiring very sharp close vision (e.g., reading small print for long periods of time).

Many patients cannot get used to having one eye blurred at all times. Therefore, if you are considering monovision with LASIK, make sure you go through a trial period with contact lenses to see if you can tolerate monovision, before having the surgery performed on your eyes. Find out if you pass your state’s driver’s license requirements with monovision.

In addition, you should consider how much your presbyopia is expected to increase in the future. Ask your doctor when you should expect the results of your monovision surgery to no longer be enough for you to see near-by objects clearly without the aid of glasses or contacts, or when a second surgery might be required to further correct your near vision.

  • Bilateral Simultaneous Treatment

You may choose to have LASIK surgery on both eyes at the same time or to have surgery on one eye at a time. Although the convenience of having surgery on both eyes on the same day is attractive, this practice is riskier than having two separate surgeries.

If you decide to have one eye done at a time, you and your doctor will decide how long to wait before having surgery on the other eye. If both eyes are treated at the same time or before one eye has a chance to fully heal, you and your doctor do not have the advantage of being able to see how the first eye responds to surgery before the second eye is treated.

Another disadvantage to having surgery on both eyes at the same time is that the vision in both eyes may be blurred after surgery until the initial healing process is over, rather than being able to rely on clear vision in at least one eye at all times.

Finding the Right Doctor

choosing a lasik surgeon

Finding the Right Doctor FOR Lasik laser procedure

If you are considering refractive surgery, make sure you:

  • Compare. The levels of risk and benefit vary slightly not only from procedure to procedure, but from device to device depending on the manufacturer, and from surgeon to surgeon depending on their level of experience with a particular procedure.
  • Don’t base your decision simply on cost and don’t settle for the first eye center, doctor, or procedure you investigate. Remember that the decisions you make about your eyes and refractive surgery will affect you for the rest of your life.
  • Be wary of eye centers that advertise, “20/20 vision or your money back” or “package deals.” There are never any guarantees in medicine.
  • Read. It is important for you to read the patient handbook provided to your doctor by the manufacturer of the device used to perform the refractive procedure. Your doctor should provide you with this handbook and be willing to discuss his/her outcomes (successes as well as complications) compared to the results of studies outlined in the handbook.

Even the best screened patients under the care of most skilled surgeons can experience serious complications.

  • During surgery. Malfunction of a device or other error, such as cutting a flap of cornea through and through instead of making a hinge during LASIK surgery, may lead to discontinuation of the procedure or irreversible damage to the eye.
  • After surgery. Some complications, such as migration of the flap, inflammation or infection, may require another procedure and/or intensive treatment with drops. Even with aggressive therapy, such complications may lead to temporary loss of vision or even irreversible blindness.

Under the care of an experienced doctor, carefully screened candidates with reasonable expectations and a clear understanding of the risks and alternatives are likely to be happy with the results of their refractive procedure.

Credit: https://www.lasikvisioninstitute.com

Advertising for Lasik

Advertising for Lasik laser procedure

Be cautious about “slick” advertising and/or deals that sound “too good to be true.” Remember, they usually are. There is a lot of competition resulting in a great deal of advertising and bidding for your business. Do your homework.

If you want to know more about advertising ethics, do’s and don’ts, or want to report on false advertising, explore the nearby Useful Links.

Useful Links

The lasik Pocedure

lasik laser procedure

This corrective eye surgery begins with anesthetic eye drops. You may be given a mild sedative so you can relax during the operation. Laser eye surgery takes just 10 to 15 minutes for each eye, and you don’t need to be put under general anesthesia. Note that there are different kinds of LASIK surgeries.

Your eye surgeon then cuts a precise flap of corneal tissue with a specialized laser called a femtosecond laser. Once the flap has been cut, which is not painful, you’ll notice that your vision gets blurry.

The LASIK procedure continues with the excimer laser, which flashes as it reshapes the inner layers of your cornea.

This is the main part of the operation.

The computer-assisted laser sends pulses into your eye. The laser light itself is invisible, as it uses ultraviolet light, but you hear the clicking sounds of the laser turning on and off. This part of the process is also painless. When the laser has completed its work, your eye surgeon realigns and closes the flap over your cornea. Finally, a protective shield is placed over your eye(s) while your corneal tissue heals naturally.

Different Lasik laser procedures

DIFFERENT TYPE OF LASIK

Different Lasik laser procedures

 

LASIK procedures are so popular because they allow not only more freedom from glasses and contacts, but also the chance to see better than you would with corrective eyewear.  There are several types of LASIK eye surgery treatments, and your surgeon will determine which one is best for you, depending on your individual needs.

LASIK treatments can correct some of the most common vision problems, including nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

Doctors use state-of-the-art eye-mapping technology to analyze the problems with your eyesight as well as each eye’s unique irregularities. After determining if you’re eligible for LASIK, your surgeon will recommend the LASIK procedure that makes the most sense for achieving your optimal vision.

 

PRK (1st generation refractive surgery

PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) is a type of refractive surgery(Lasik Surgery) to correct myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism. In this, the laser is used on the surface of cornea.

It is used less commonly these days.

 

 

LASIK (2nd generation refractive surgery)

In LASIK, cornea is reshaped by creating a flap, removing the underlying corneal tissue with laser and replacing the flap back there by correcting the spectacle number.

Femto-LASIK / I-Lasik/ Contoura vision / Bladefree Lasik (2nd generation refractive surgery)

As no incisions are made, it is very safe and has excellent outcomes.

 

Femto-LASIK

With traditional LASIK, a controlled blade (microkeratome) is used to create the flap (a kind of hinged piece of corneal tissue). With advanced Femto-LASIK, a highly precise flap is quickly created with a femtosecond laser. Femto Second LASIK is one of the most preferred LASIK treatment. The procedure can correct a number of other errors other than refractive errors. Using computerised programming, it is possible to maintain robotic accuracy with this procedure.

I-Lasik

Lasik surgery uses a blade to create the flap in the cornea. The blade is inside a hand– held microkeratome which cuts across the eye surface. This procedure has the risk of creating severe sight-threatening complications. The iLasik uses the beam of light without going across the eye surface. The precision with which this light beam acts is the main source of the procedure’s safety. The thickness of the flap will determine the outcome of the surgery and it features a consistent thickness from one edge of the eye to the other. Lasik surgery cannot guarantee this type of accuracy.

 

Contoura Vision

Contoura Vision, which has been used safely and effectively outside the United States for more than 10 years, is a unique topography-guided LASIK procedure because of the way it maps the eye to guide treatment. It uses a topography instrument called the Vario Topolyzer to measure every submicroscopic peak and valley on the front of the eye, the cornea, to a hyper-precise degree.

All LASIK treatments are applied underneath a flap that is created at the top layer of the cornea. The flap can be made with a bladed instrument, Contura vision use thes IntralaseiFS femtosecond laser. They create the LASIK flap to precise dimensions so it conforms to your eye’s anatomy, is less disruptive to the delicate corneal tissue, and fits securely back in place after the treatment. 

SMILE (3rd generation refractive surgery )

SMILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction) The procedure reshapes the cornea by removing a small lenticule without creating a flap, making it the safest treatment available for laser vision correction. It is minimally invasive and preferred over all types of LASIK treatments.

 It is the future of all spectacles removal technologies.

You will receive some simple instructions to follow in the days leading up to your LASIK treatment, including not wearing contact lenses for a period of about a couple of weeks to a few  days. Your surgeon will discuss with you what to expect during and after your laser eye surgery procedure, including recovery time.

Immediately after Lasik Surgery

PRECAUTIONS AFTER LASIK LASER SURGERY

What to do immediately after Lasik laser Surgery

After your successful laser eye surgery, ask someone to  you home and wear your sunglasses. Rest your eyes and keep them closed so that they are comfortable.

Ideally you will want to keep your eyes closed for 2 to 4 hours as part of the immediate LASIK recovery process. Thus taking a nap and wearing your clear plastic shields will assist with the recovery process.

You may experience mild sensitivity for a few hours but there should be minimal discomfort. After 2-4 hours, remove the plastic shields and, as directed by your surgeon, begin using your prescribed eye drops for healing and to keep your eyes comfortable, and lubricated.

Avoid rubbing, squeezing or touching your eyes after LASIK surgery, since the surface of your eyes are still sensitive.

Wear your plastic shields when sleeping and if your eyes are sensitive to light, wear your sunglasses. If your eyes become dry or irritated, use your preservative-free artificial tears to help keep your eyes comfortable.

LASIK surgeons recommend resting for the first 24 hours following your laser eye surgery.

So avoid reading, computer work, strenuous activity, and television during this period.

Don’t take a shower the first day and avoid getting soap and water in your eyes for several days.

Make sure you take any prescription medicine your doctor may prescribe, as directed.

Credit: https://www.lasikvisioninstitute.com

On the day of your laser surgery. .

 

Do not wear eye makeup. You should not wear eye makeup (or use eye creams) the night before or the day of your laser vision correction. You should also avoid using perfume or cologne.

Avoid shedding fabrics. When choosing an outfit for your laser vision correction surgery, choose something that is comfortable, but does not shed, or have loose fibers or animal hair (real or faux).

Eat and drink as usual—with one exception. There is no need to fast prior to laser vision correction. However, you should not drink alcohol or take medication which may cause drowsiness prior to your vision correction.

Leave yourself plenty of time. While the actual laser vision correction surgery can take minutes, be sure you have arrived in plenty of time to complete any intake procedure, including filling out paperwork. Your LASIK provider will designate a time for you to report on the day of your laser vision correction.

If you follow these simple guidelines, you will be well prepared for your laser vision correction surgery. Remember to contact your LASIK provider with any questions or concerns leading up to your vision correction surgery.

Credit: https://www.lasikvisioninstitute.com

1 Day After LASIK Procedure

1 Day After LASIK Procedure

Your first post-operative appointment will be 24 to 48 hours after your LASIK eye surgery. Your  doctor will test your vision, make sure your eyes are healing properly, and answer any questions you may have. It is usually ok to resume driving after this appointment. Also, at this appointment, you will make your subsequent follow-up appointments, which can be anywhere from 1 week, 3 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after your laser surgery, depending on your needs and your doctor’s recommendation.

Continue to use the prescribed drops and/or medicines to lubricate your eyes.

Keep wearing your eye shields while you sleep, and refrain from touching or rubbing your eyes.

Lotions, creams, and eye make-up should also be avoided for about 7 days after LASIK surgery.

It’s a good idea to protect your eyes anytime you are outside, day or night, for the first 2-3 weeks following LASIK surgery.

Sunglasses work well for this during the day, and clear protective glasses can be worn while out at night.

While you’ll be able to resume most activities after a day or so, you’ll want to limit strenuous activity, continue to rest your eyes, and avoid tasks that could result in getting dust or dirt in them. While many people return to work the day following their LASIK eye surgery, others take a bit more time.

Continue to avoid getting water in your eyes within the first 72 hours after a laser eye surgery procedure.

Water activities such as swimming and hot tubs should be avoided for several weeks.

Reading, working on the computer and watching television can be resumed 24 hours after LASIK surgery.

If necessary, you may want to keep your eyes lubricated during these activities.

Each person’s healing pattern is unique so be sure to resume activities based on your doctor’s instruction and recommendation.

1 Week After LASIK Procedure

1 Week After LASIK Procedure

Most patients will attend a 1 week post op appointment, so if your doctor has scheduled one for you, be sure to attend. Continue to use your prescribed eye drops, as directed.

As your eyes are healing, your vision may fluctuate a bit day to day. This is typical with laser correction and you should not be alarmed. During this stabilization period some glare, halos, night vision difficulty may be experienced. These are generally short-term symptoms that tend to get better by themselves in time.

At this point after your treatment, exercise can be resumed. However, use eye protection to avoid any rubbing or contact with your eyes. Avoid pools and swimming for at least 3 weeks after laser eye surgery. Contact sports should also be avoided for a few weeks, due to the higher risk of injury to the eyes.

In addition, avoid products such as lotions, creams, and eye makeup –unless your doctor advises differently.

Keeping your eyes well lubricated will assist with the post LASIK surgery results.

Always know to contact your surgeon if you have questions, develop any unusual symptoms, experience any pain, or suspect a problem.

After seven days, you may stop using your eye shields at night.

Credit: https://www.lasikvisioninstitute.com

3 Weeks After LASIK Procedure

3 Weeks After LASIK Procedure

Amazingly, within 3 weeks after laser vision correction, strenuous activities and contact sports can be resumed with eye protection, including swimming. It is recommended that you discuss all your sporting and exercise activities with your LASIK surgeon to determine if and when you are able to resume all activities 3 weeks after LASIK eye surgery.

Lawn mowing, gardening, and other outdoor activities can usually be resumed. Continue to take great care with your eyes and protect them accordingly.

In your 3-week post-op appointment, your  doctor will give you a standard eye test, to see how your vision has improved, and track your progress.

Some vision fluctuation, sensitivity to light, and tearing or dryness is normal and part of the healing process. You may still need to use the artificial tears 3 weeks after your LASIK procedure, although you can slowly taper off them in the coming months.

Credit: https://www.lasikvisioninstitute.com

3-6 months after LASIK surgery.

Learn about 3-6 months after LASIK eye surgery.

In the 3-6 month period following your laser surgery procedure you should be gaining optimum vision as a result of your treatment. You’ve resumed your activities and are enjoying more freedom from glasses and contact lenses!

To ensure the best possible long-term LASIK results, we request that you attend all your post-operative consultations, as scheduled by your surgeon. Your laser surgeon will keep track of your progress and follow-up with you as needed. Some fluctuations in your vision are normal as your eyes heal.

Credit: https://www.lasikvisioninstitute.com

Complications and side effect

COMPLICATIONS AFTER LASIK LASER SURGERY

Complications and side effects from LASIK eye surgery .

Complications and side effects from LASIK eye surgery are rare,

but you should be aware of all risks before you submit to the procedure. Among the potential risks are:

  • Itchy eyes
  • Abnormally dry eyes
  • Red or pink patches on your sclera, a temporary condition
  • Infection of your cornea
  • Scarring on your cornea
  • Sensitivity to bright light
  • Halos in your vision
  • Abnormal shape to your cornea so contact lenses don’t fit
  • Contrast issues that make objects look blurry or fuzzy
  • Contrast issues that make night driving impossible
  • In very rare cases, worse vision or even permanent loss of vision

Recovey from Lasik Laser

Immediately after your laser eye surgery, you’ll likely feel some discomfort, but it shouldn’t feel painful. Most often, the short-term effects of the procedure disappear within six hours. These include the itching and burning sensations you feel as the anesthetic wears off. It may feel like you have something in your eye.

For all these reasons, your local ophthalmologist  provides you with an eye shield so you can’t scratch or accidentally poke your eye while it’s healing. You can usually remove the eye shield the next day or at your follow-up exam; by then, the itchy feeling has subsided. You’re encouraged to keep your eye closed until it has a chance to heal. If you do open your eye, don’t worry if your vision isn’t immediately clear.

Your eye doctor may prescribe a mild pain medication, but you should feel a lot better and your vision should improve by the following day. You need to visit your ophthalmologist within a day or two for a follow-up. In the meantime, don’t go swimming or participate in contact sports. Stay out of hot tubs and don’t drive. And contact your doctor immediately if you experience any severe pain.

Long term results

Your vision continues to improve over time until it stabilizes into clarity. This can take just several days, although sometimes it can take three months or longer. This is because everyone is a little different and some people just take longer to heal. Regardless how long it takes, your recovery ends with dramatically improved vision in almost all cases.

There have been cases of people needing a second laser eye surgery because the eye surgeon under- or overcorrected the cornea. It’s rare when this happens, though. Symptoms such as vision glare or seeing halos may be an issue for up to six months following your procedure, but they eventually disappear.

LASIK corrective eye surgery modifies your cornea to resolve one issue, whether that’s nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism. Laser eye surgery can’t correct more than one problem. If you had surgery to correct your farsightedness, for example, you may still need reading glasses, especially as you age. But most people get lasting results of clearer vision from the procedure.

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Common concern about Lasik Laser Surgery

Common concerns

Is Lasik laser Surgery Safe?

Contribute Your Content/ Suggestion

choice of suyrgey

Dilip Narayan Consultant Optometrist & Contact Lens Specialist 2016

Lasik surgery is very popular now-a-days. It helps you get rid of several eye problems. The operation aka situ keratomileusis, uses a laser to work its way underneath the flap of the cornea to help reshape the cornea itself.

If done in a proper way LASIK eye surgery can be beneficial to cure certain vision difficulties. While in most of the cases, LASIK surgery yields desired results, there are some failures too.

So, before going for a lasik surgery you must be aware of some dangers associated with it. Here I am discussing  some common pitfalls of Lasik surgery.

  1. Loss of Vision

According to Food and Drug Administration website, fda.gov laser eye surgery may cause loss of vision. In some cases, this loss of vision cant be overcome even by the use of glasses, contact lenses or further surgery.

  1. Severe Dry Eye

Another risk factor of laser eye surgery identified by the FDA is permanently dry eyes. The reason behind is that after the surgery the patients cannot produce enough tears. This may be cured by frequent use of eye drops or in some cases, use of punctal eye plugs.

  1. Under or Over Correction

After laser surgery , not every patient is supposed to achieve 20/20 vision in each eye, according to reports found in the Eye Surgery Education Council’s website. While the majority of people see instant results after only just one procedure there are others who are forced to do two in order to fix the trouble and see any effects. This second operation will be used to focalize the vision and is basically for the people with truly intensive prescriptions.

  1. Still Need Contacts And Glasses

You may still need glasses to bring your vision to 20/20 after you are done with lasic surgery. Unless you have one eye corrected for farsightedness and another eye corrected for nearsightedness (a condition called monovision), you will need reading glasses after the surgery as you needed before the surgery.

  1. Non Permanent Results

Though this is a very rare case, but not uncommon. There are people who have suffered from vision problems after several years since the surgery was performed. This is common for aged people who are losing vision due to old age. another Lasik eye surgery is recommended for them.

  1. Visual Aberrations

Visual aberrations are specific visual effects that can come about during the lessening of visual quality and LASIK surgery. The trouble one faces with this include the difference in the refractive power between both eyes, aniseikonia, the difference in the size of the image that is between both eyes, hazy vision, double vision, and the fluctuation of vision during the day time.

  1. corneal estasia

According to the Canadian government’s Health Canada website, hc-sc.gc.ca, corneal ectasia is another dangerous complication of laser eye surgery. If the patient has too thin corneal tissue, cutting it may weaken the cornea, causing it to bulge from the surface of the eyeball. In these cases, cornea transplantation may be required.

  1. Inflammation and infection

Lasik surgery poses another two dangers — Inflammation and infection. After surgery, your doctor will prescribe you to take steroids to control inflammation. Whereas, antibiotic eye drops will help you prevent infection. You should be careful about its use. use eye drops exactly as prescribed for a period of days or weeks.

  1. Flap can be completely cut off

During LASIK laser eye surgery, a hinged flap is cut into the surface of the eyeball. According to the FDA, one danger during surgery is that the flap can be completely cut off and the surgery must be stopped without achieving correction. Depending on the damage and how the flap heals, further surgery may not be possible.

  1. Problem in night vision

Some patients have reported about weak night vision after they went through laser eye surgery. They see increased glare or halos around bright objects at night.

Krishnendu Mandal, Optometrist , Contact lens specialist 2016

Lasik ( Laser-Assisted in situ keratomileusis ) is refractive surgery to reduce the refractive error of the eye.

It is a very safe procedure and readers are known about the indications of Lasik surgery. But a few things should be consider before surgery. Lasik surgeon generally discussed those points before the surgery.

Lasik is unsafe for

  1. If corneal thickness is less than 480–500 microns
  2. High refractive error with border line corneal thickness
  3. Sign of corneal ectasia
  4. Steep cornea
  5. Family history of keratoconus or post-Lasik ectasia
  6. Severe dry eye
  7. Recent adeno-viral eye infection
  8. Any kinds of corneal thickness
  9. Large pupil size, it can cause glare at night driving
  10. H/O- Diabetes which take more times for healing wound after the surgery

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Is Lasik Laser surgery painful?

Tanisha Singh, studied Medical Sciences at University of Delhi 2018

LASIK is a laser vision correction procedure that is used to treat refractive errors of the eye like myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. It is a highly safe and successful procedure and it is completely painless for the patient.

Before the surgery starts, anesthesia in the form of eye drops is used in order to numb the patient’s eye so that the patient doesn’t feel any pain during the procedure. The ophthalmologist might also use a sedative to calm the patient during the procedure.

After the procedure is completed, the patient may feel a little discomfort but it can be mitigated using regular medicine like aspirin or ibuprofen.

So yes, overall, LASIK is not painful at all for the patient.

Precautions after Lasik Laser sugery

Kalyani Deshpande, Ophthalmologist ( Cataract & Refractive surgeon) 

 

I edited your question slightly because there are different procedures that fall under ‘laser vision correction for getting rid of your glasses’. After Lasik you need maybe a couple of days to be comfortable. But it might be 4-5 days after certain other procedures that we call PRK etc. So most patients usually take a week off. But if you have to resume slightly earlier, it shouldn’t be a problem. Your comfort is an important factor. If you feel comfortable you can start few hrs early on and then resume full activity (assuming you have a job that demands 8-9hrs of computer use). Do not forget to instill your eye drops on time.

Reading after Lasik Laser Surgery

Bruce Henkel, 20/10 vision from birth to, so far, age 41…

 

Individual results vary, but the day after lasik, yes, whatever was preventing you from reading should be corrected. If you mean “will me eyes be strained from reading the day after lasik” then, again, it depends on the person. It is possible that your eyes may be more sensitive or become irritated if you decide to do a marathon session of ‘War and Peace’ the day after surgery, you may have some discomfort in your eyes. Everyone I’ve known who has had lasik had nothing but positive results. You will need to rest your eyes until the next day, possibly wearing some sort of protective covers while you sleep the night of surgery, but the following day should be pretty normal. You may have a “halo effect” when looking at (bright) lights similar to that caused by a scratched cornea for some time after surgery, but again, it will go away. In any case, I know I couldn’t personally have lasik, too paranoid about my vision (for NO reason, I’ve never even heard of a bad experience)….so you’re braver than I am.

Lasik Laser Surgery during pregnancy

Anand Srivastav 

Pregnancy is not a very good time to have the vision-correction surgery known as LASIK surgery. It is not safe for the baby but pregnancy hormones can throw off your prescription. Eyesight usually swing to nearsightedness during pregnancy, but some moms-to-be become more farsighted. So the correction you get while you are pregnant might no longer be useful once you have your baby and stop breastfeeding. Even the breastfeeding moms are in an altered hormonal state that can effect breastfeeding vision correction. Also, there are certain issues with the LASIK process.

Near work/ Reading after Lasik

 

Bruce Henkel, 20/10 vision from birth to, so far, age 41…

 

Individual results vary, but the day after lasik, yes, whatever was preventing you from reading should be corrected. If you mean “will me eyes be strained from reading the day after lasik” then, again, it depends on the person. It is possible that your eyes may be more sensitive or become irritated if you decide to do a marathon session of ‘War and Peace’ the day after surgery, you may have some discomfort in your eyes. Everyone I’ve known who has had lasik had nothing but positive results. You will need to rest your eyes until the next day, possibly wearing some sort of protective covers while you sleep the night of surgery, but the following day should be pretty normal. You may have a “halo effect” when looking at (bright) lights similar to that caused by a scratched cornea for some time after surgery, but again, it will go away. In any case, I know I couldn’t personally have lasik, too paranoid about my vision (for NO reason, I’ve never even heard of a bad experience)….so you’re braver than I am.

Lasik in old age

Gaurav Kumar, mbbs Mbbs 2015, Smmh Saharanpur (2021)

At age 60, the eyes start to change once more. This is when the risk of cataracts increases. Some adults get to age 70 or 80 with no cataracts and have otherwise healthy eyes. Despite being outside the common LASIK age spectrum, these people can be good candidates for laser eye surgery. It’s possible that a 70-year-old without cataracts or other eye illnesses is actually a better candidate than a 30-year-old with very dry eyes and diabetes. Age certainly influences one’s LASIK candidacy, but it by no means draws an absolute boundary. If you are in good health, have a stable prescription and are considering LASIK, ask a laser vision correction provider to assess your candidacy.

Lasik in high number glass/myopia

M.S. Ravindra, Eye Surgeon 2015

We have done up to -14.00, but it greatly depends on your corneal thickness and corneal curvatures. After LASIK the curvature should not end up below 33 diopters and bed thickness fall below 300 microns. You should not be having Keratoconus forme frustae.

Does Lasik damages the eyes ?

Lance Kugler, Director of Refractive Surgery for the University of Nebraska Medical Center

 

Numerous studies have been published in peer-reviewed medical journals that demonstrate long-term stability for eyes that have had laser vision correction surgery. The overall stability rate is in the 85-97% range, depending on the equipment used and the patient population in question.

 

There is a myth among the public that LASIK “wears off” when they reach their 40’s. This is not true. For patients in their 40s, who have had LASIK in their 20s or 30s, the surgery still reduces the need for glasses for distance vision. It is true that people in their 40s need reading glasses, due to a condition called “presbyopia” but that happens regardless of whether someone has LASIK. Everyone in their 40s needs reading glasses or bifocals, and happens independent of the LASIK procedure.

The best age for Lasik

Felipe Barousse Boué, Had severe Myopia,used eye-glasses (kid),then contacts (teen/young),then LASIK..

In my personal case, and due to the high level of myopia I had, on both eyes. I had LASIK surgery, twice, in both eyes. There was a period of about 1 to 2 months (I do not recall exactly as I had this surgery more than 15 years ago…)

In the initial pre-surgery evaluation, my  doctor mentioned to me that due to the extremely high myopia there was a chance that a double intervention could be needed.          “Unfortunately”  that was the case and was done as programmed.

I use the word “unfortunately”, only because of the annoyances it carried with the fact of having 2 surgerys per eye.  No one likes getting into the OR once….forget about twice ! …

Today, I have almost a perfect sight, after having double LASIK surgery in both eyes more than 15 years ago.

I must say, this was done to me in my country: Mexico.  When I had this surgery, lots of people from the USA used to travel to Mexico to have the LASIK surgery done here as it was not already approved by the health authorities there. We, in Mexico, had that already approved and being performed with excellent results.

Currently, LASIK is such a common surgery that it is performed in many hospitals and ophthalmology specialized clinics,  during those years, there were only just a few LASIK machines available in the country.

I’d recommend having a  LASIK (with the corresponding pre-surgery evaluation of course) based on my personal experience.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a doctor nor an eye specialist. I am/was a patient who had LASIK twice in each eye due to high myopia.  Ask  your doctor for a qualified evaluation and opinion of your individual case and situation.

Brett Paepke, Staff optometrist at FirstView Eye Care Associates 2012

 

LASIK can be performed more than once on a patient, but its repeatability needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

A big factor in this decision is corneal thickness.  LASIK reshapes the surface of the eye by removing tissue; the more prescription a patient has, the more tissue needs to be removed.  So if the intial procedure results in a corneal thickness amenable to a second procedure/enhancement, it can possibly be repeated.

The best age for surgery is one where the patient has demonstrated good stability in their prescription.  For this reason, most individuals are not considered candidates until 19-20 years old when prescriptions tend to stabilize for many.

Presbyopia is an active process that continues until all of an individual’s innate near focusing ability is gone.  This typically occurs between 60-65 years old.

Why eye specialists do not have it ?

Meghna Chandraker, Living with Option B. Growing in adversity.2018

 

Some reasons why eye specialists do not want a taste of their own medicine/ surgery-

  1. Eye specialists have EARNED their glasses!!!

It takes years of slogging through piles of books and exams to become a refractive surgeon (minimum 10 years after getting into MBBS and 10 years before getting into MBBS)

No, I am not kidding! Studies have proven that lack of outdoor activities and excessive near work , especially in childhood, can lead to myopia.

  1. Eye specialists don’t care about LOOKING GOOD!

They don’t have a life outside their clinics. A great advantage!! Because they don’t have any social pressure to impress anyone, with their ‘without glasses’ good looks!!

Inside the clinic, especially operation theatre, no one can look at them behind their masks!

  1. Glasses add to a doctor’s SENIORITY!

Every profession has a look that is associated with it. Will you intuitively trust an eye specialist in a formal dress/sari, white coat, grey hair and glasses or one in jeans-T-shirt, coloured hair and LASIK done. Got my point!!

Read this study, if you don’t believe me. http://www.ijo.in/article.asp?is…

  1. The final reason, Myopic eye surgeons don’t have to use near vision glasses after 40

An eye surgeon’s job requires precise near vision for surgical work. Since presbyopia sets in later (or never) in myopes, they can continue to do their near vision work as before, while their emmetrope colleagues will have to start wearing near vision glasses!

Doctors / eye specialists donot have anything stopping them from undergoing LASIK themselves, but the privileges which come with glasses are too great to let go!!:-)

Vision after Lasik laser?

Sai Chand Medarametla, Beautiful eyes shouldn’t be covered with glasses 2016

 

It is not like how much time for clear vision, after the operation itself your vision is perfect the thing is you will face some small problems like irritation for few days. That might take from 7–10 days. Not much irritation, you can handle it, after that it gradually decreases. Depends on your immune system too. Eat what your doctor prescribes and enjoy your blurr-free vision.

 

Safala Shroff, Cataract and Laser eye Surgery- LASIK, ReLEx smile Counsellor 2016

 

Usually it takes a minimum of a week-10 days, in most cases it starts getting crisp in forst month, but it is not unusual if healing continues for 3 months.

 

Snehasish Choudhury, Optometrist working in The Eye Foundation Bangalore 2017

 

Should not take more than a week if u have done keratome LASIK/femto LASIK or smile. If u have undergone surface ablation it might take up to 2–3 weeks.

Does lasik woth getting ?

Por Yong Ming, Corneal and refractive surgery specialist Answered Jul 19, 2016

I fully agree with Gabriel Taub.

If your eyes are eligible and are otherwise healthy, it’s entirely up to you. Someone whose lifestyle makes it difficult for them to wear glasses or contact lenses, or who just do not like these devices, would benefit. Others who don’t mind them  would be fine carrying on as they are. So it’s all up to the individual.

The greatest benefit of getting laser refractive surgery would be convenience from not having to wear glasses or contact lenses (before the onset of presbyopia). Waking up to clear vision, being able to jump into a pool without a second thought, etc

On‌ ‌the‌ ‌other‌ ‌hand, are the small risks of surgery which could include things like under or overcorrection-which could , of‌ ‌course,e corrected with enhancements. Rarer still are things like infections. You need to be aware of the limitations of such surgery too, including the fact that it does not ‘cure’ presbyopia.

If you are really interested in this procedure you need to get a proper eye assessment and then an in-depth discussion with the counsellor/doctor.

 

Ankit Batra, A doctor who loves to help people Answered Aug 30, 2018

 

LASIK is eye surgery that permanently changes the shape of the cornea (the clear covering on the front of the eye). It is done to improve vision and reduce a person’s need for glasses or contact lenses.

Description

For clear vision, the eye’s cornea and lens must bend (refract) light rays properly. This allows images to be focused on the retina. Otherwise, the images will be blurry.

This blurriness is referred to as a “refractive error.” It is caused by a difference between the shape of the cornea (curvature) and the length of the eye.

LASIK uses an excimer laser (an ultraviolet laser) to remove a thin layer of corneal tissue. This gives the cornea a new shape so that light rays are focused clearly on the retina. LASIK causes the cornea to be thinner.

LASIK is an outpatient surgical procedure. It will take 10 to 15 minutes to perform for each eye.

The only anesthetic used is eye drops that numb the surface of the eye. The procedure is done when you are awake, but you will get medicine to help you relax. LASIK may be done on one or both eyes during the same session.

To do the procedure, a flap of corneal tissue is created. This flap is then peeled back so that the excimer laser can reshape the corneal tissue underneath. A hinge on the flap prevents it from being completely separated from the cornea.

When LASIK was first done, a special automated knife (a microkeratome) was used to cut the flap. Now, a more common and safer method is to use a different type of laser (femtosecond) to create the corneal flap.

The amount of corneal tissue the laser will remove is calculated ahead of time. The surgeon will calculate this based on several factors including:

Your glasses or contact lens prescription

A wavefront test, which measures how light travels through your eye

The shape of your cornea surface

Once the reshaping is done, the surgeon replace

How long will vision correction last?

lasik laser outcome

How long will vision correction last?

The distance vision correction is fairly permanent following laser vision correction. However, as with the course of nature, there are some age related changes that will occur regardless of whether or not you had LASIK surgery.

Credit: https://www.lasikvisioninstitute.com

Complications and risk of Lasik Laser Surgery

Sands of Sahara syndrome

Sands of Sahara syndrome

Sands of Sahara syndrome (diffuse lamellar keratitis) is a rare postoperative complication of Laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). Its estimated prevalence is reported to be 2-4% among LASIK cases [1], despite that, it is more likely to be encountered by the eye casualty doctor due to the increasing numbers of patients undergoing LASIK surgery every year.

Pain Lasik Laser Surgery.

It’s one of the most popular elective procedures in the world.

Laser eye surgery, or Lasik, as it’s more commonly known, offers enhanced vision in minutes and a life free from glasses and contact lenses.

But a W5 investigation uncovered

a small but increasingly vocal group of patients who claim they developed a very rare complication after surgery that left them in chronic pain, unable to work and even contemplating suicide.

Interesting articles

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