Any surgery has its own sets of risks and complications. So it is advisable that before going into a surgery a patient should have a clear and complete knowledge of what the operation involves. It is generally the surgeon who explains beforehand what the patient might expect prior to and after the operation. Even the process of operation is at times explained, albeit in a lucid and easy to understand manner. It should be no else with this surgery also.
Why would one go for LASIK surgery? Primarily because it is generally accepted these days that that surgery comes with the promise of improving one’s vision permanently so that the need for glasses or contact lenses is no longer there. So you are no longer dependent on them. In a way, you discover new liberty and freedom.
So whom do you go to for a LASIK surgery? To the optometrist, of course. The first thing he will do is to conduct a number of tests on you to see if you are the right candidate for this surgery. Basically this eye surgery is used to cure three main types of eye conditions myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. Myopia, also know as nearsightedness is the problem of not being able to see what is far away without glasses. Hyperopia, also known as farsightedness, is the other way round. Astigmatism is something different where the patient has irregularities in his cornea which as a result distorts the image formed on the retina of the eye.
What will the optometrist be looking for? There are a few basic things that any optometrist will look for before a eye surgery. That would primarily include your eye health history. In case of a particular few diseases the chances of you undergoing a this surgery will significantly decrease. These would include glaucoma, herpes, eye injuries or thin corneas.
Any of these conditions can disqualify you as a suitable candidate for eye surgery. Another important criterion is whether there has been an alteration in your eyewear prescription over the last year. Before this operation your eyes should be steady. If they are not then the optometrist might just postpone the surgery for a few months until he is satisfied that your eyes are ready to undergo that surgery.
These are some of the basic things that you need to know as part of your pre-surgery preparation. Of course once you are considered suitable for the operation the doctor will brief you about the surgery itself and post operative care.
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The FDA approved lasik surgery during the 90s. So it is definitely safe at one level. In fact studies reveal that the operation is successful almost to the tune of 95% which is quite a commendable rate of success. But one must also understand that it’s a question of ones eyes and even if there are minor risks and complications, still they should be properly learnt about and understood.
In this article we will try to provide you with an objective point of view of the various complications that might be a result of a eye surgery.
Problems that might be caused due to they are double vision, glare, and halo. One’s nighttime vision can also be affected, especially for certain operation procedures. Even permanent blurry vision and diminished contrast may be the effects of this surgery.
The capacity to distinguish an item from its neighboring backdrop is a problem of contrast sensitivity. The reduction in contrast sensitivity is a comparatively common occurrence after this operation, particularly in patients with high amounts of myopia.
The occurrence of a second, generally fainter, image of an object next to the original object, creating an indistinct vision is what double vision or ghosting is. This problem is generally an effect of irregular astigmatism brought on by surgery. Like several other lasik-related vision problems, double vision often goes away over a period of time.
Starbursts cause a person to see lights as blurred. Often spikes or rays of light seem to radiate out of the center of the light source. Generally it affects night time vision, but in some cases, it might be a problem for all light sources at any time of the day.
However, there have been significant advances in this eye surgery and the risks have also diminished significantly. New innovations like Iris registration and Intralase promise to take the risk factor down to as little as 1%. That would be a remarkable achievement. However, a lot of the risk factor is also dependent on the experience and expertise of the surgeon.
Surgeons who have performed more than 500 such operations can be considered to be experienced enough. Of course the more experienced the surgeon is the more price will you have to pay for him to operate on you. Also to keep it safe, surgeons often operate only one eye so that the risks are limited to one eye only.
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Over the last 10 or 12 years lasik surgery has gained a kind of popularity that has seldom been witnessed in the history of surgery. A few things have led to such an astronomical rise in the popularity of this particular surgical procedure. First of all, the relative low risk associated with this operation. With success rate around 95% and the figure going up with each new innovation there are hardly any other operation which can rival it on its safety.
Moreover, the operation takes extremely little time to complete with each eye being operated in under 10 minutes. That is remarkable for any operation and it can only be achieved because much of the operation these days is computer guided. Not that the expertise of the surgeon doesn’t matter. It does, and very much so.
This surgery is a great way to deal with the problem of astigmatism. Now what is astigmatism. Astigmatism is where the patient has irregularities in his cornea which as a result distorts the image formed on the retina of the eye. That can actually rectify this problem and help the patient to live a normal life.
You would now be curious about how actually the lasik operation is performed. Here is a synopsis for you. First a mild anesthetic will be administered. Also eye drops are used to numb the eye and avoid pain during the operation. Though the operation is pain free there have been patients who have complained of discomfort. Once the eye is numb, a little device known as the microkeratome is attached to a suction ring placed on the eye. The microkeratome has a blade which cuts a thin flap on the surface of the cornea.
The doctor will next fold back the flap and expose the stroma which is basically a layer of tissue. The stroma is searched for debris and is then dried. Now the surgeon will ask you to focus on a fixed spot while he, with the aid of laser mends the corneal tissue according to results of pre-operation examination. Once through, the flap is put back to position and an eye patch is provided to allow it to heal.
This operation is also highly effective in other conditions related to the eye. These would include myopia and hyperopia. While the former doesn’t allow you to see things at a distance, the latter is exactly the opposite where you cannot read the newspaper without the reading glasses.
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It was only towards the very end of the last decade that the excimer laser was approved by the FDA for lasik eye surgery. But within ten years there has been a whole host of companies which have jumped into the race for capturing the largest share of the very lucrative this eye surgery market. The good thing about it is that there are now companies which are ready to pump in the dollars to carry out research and bring in new advancements.
But as companies develop new models they also are more eager to push their models to the doctor and to a certain extent to the patients. This is most apparent on the internet. If anyone is considering a eye operation and thinks about reading up some literature about it on the internet, he or she is bound to be bombarded with ads by various companies trying to convince him or her that their product is the best in the market. How true are such claims? Not that much. Yes, each of the models would be different from the other in some respect, but the overall difference will at best be minor. Breakthrough innovations don’t happen everyday.
So are all surgery machines safe? Well, the ones approved by FDA are. You got to know which are the various types of surgery machines that have been approved by FDA. There’s a whole host of them. Of them three companies dominate a large part of the market. They are Alcon, Bausch & Lomb, and VISX. Another major player in the LASIK market is Nidek, but their Wavefront technology which helps the operation machine to ma the eye is yet to be approved by the FDA.
The main concern for most patients thinking about surgery is the 20/20 vision. Studies of different models of operations show that there are no significant differences between them. The accuracy they provide are almost similar in all the cases. So on that count all these types of lasers score the same.
Another big concern for patients undergoing this eye surgery is the quality of night vision. Some patients do complain about visual aberrations and night halos after going through a surgery. Recent studies conclude that the traditional Alcon and VISX are more effective than the new Wavefront technology causing lesser visual aberrations during night. It is also understood that of all the major players VISX performs the best when it comes to night vision.
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Here are some interesting lasik eye surgery terminology and facts. If you are planning on having this type of surgery it is always good to familiarize yourself with it and the lingo.
Dr. Jose Barraquer from Colombia in 1970 was the first person to develop the Microkeratome, an instrument that could cut thin flaps in the cornea and alter its shape. He is ultimately the one who made this type of corrective eye surgery possible.
This type of surgery is very safe and painless. Patients experience very little pain and usually fully recover within 24 hours. Their vision is noticeably improved as soon as the surgical procedure is finished. Patients are awake during the procedure and do go temperately blind while their cornea is being worked on. This sometimes frightens patients but only lasts for a short period of time.
Here are some terms for your interest.
Laser-assisted In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) is a form of refractive laser eye surgery. This type of procedure is performed by an Ophthalmologist and is designed to help correct vision.
Microkeratome – A Microkeratome is a precision surgical instrument with an oscillating blade designed for creating the corneal flap in LASIK or ALK surgery
Eye Surgery – Ophthalmic surgery or ocular surgery, a surgical procedure performed on the eye or its adnexa.
Adnexa – Appendages of an organ.
Refractive – The turning or bending of any wave, such as a light or sound wave, when it passes from one medium into another of different optical density. It is also the ability of the eye to bend light so that an image is focused on the retina, allowing the image to be sent to the brain for processing.
In Situ – In situ is a Latin phrase used in many different contexts and means ‘in place’.
Keratomileusis – A procedure for the correction of the refraction of the cornea by removing a deep corneal lamella, freezing it, forming it to a new curvature, and then replacing it.
Ophthalmologist – A physician who specializes in ophthalmology.
Ophthalmology – Branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, functions, pathology, and treatment of the eye.
Isn’t medical technology amazing? Just knowing that if you were born with bad eyes that you can go spend a few thousand dollars and transform your sub-par vision into perfect 20/20 should bring some ease to your life. To your heath and to your life – farewell!
The author makes a living in the field of research and if you have found this article useful, try clicking on his specialist resource site, http://www.lasikeyeinfo.info . For other more general information on this topic, try this site http://www.instant-knowledge.com .
