Both far sight and near sight can be corrected with the LASIK vision correction procedure. With far sight, the cornea is made into a steeper shape. With near sight, the cornea is flattened. Excimer lasers are also able to correct astigmatism by smoothing down an irregularly shaped cornea.

What is LASIK Vision Correction?

First of all, in the LASIK procedure, anesthetic drops will be applied to your eye and a suction ring will be fitted over the cornea. This ring will increase the eye pressure enough for the microkeratome blade to work. You will be asked to fix your eye on a bright light to keep it still.

The microkeratome is used to make a thin flap in the cornea. A microkeratome is a precision surgical instrument that has an oscillating blade. This flap can also be made with a laser. The flap is folded back and corneal tissue underneath is removed with an excimer laser. This type of laser uses a cool ultraviolet beam to remove tiny parts from the cornea, thereby reshaping it. It is normal to smell something like burning hair at this point in the procedure.

When the cornea has been reshaped, your vision is clearer. After the procedure, the flap is replaced and the eye heals. The LASIK vision correction operation usually takes less than fifteen minutes, pain is minimal and recovery time is usually a day or two, as long as you use any eye drops or anti-inflammatory drops you are given.

Is LASIK Right for You?

In order to get LASIK vision correction your existing vision must be similar to how it was two years ago. It must also fall into an acceptable correction range. Your cornea must be at least 500 microns and your pupil diameter should be under 0.3 inches to minimize complications.

Possible Complications and Side Effects

As with any surgical procedure, LASIK can have side effects. The most common side effects are under-correction when not enough tissue is removed, over-correction when too much tissue is removed and wrinkling when the corneal flap has a wrinkle in it, giving you a small blurry area in your field of vision. These problems can be reversed with a second surgical operation. If the under-correction or over-correction is slight, the surgeon might advise against a second operation.

Other possible problems resulting from LASIK vision correction surgery are halos around lights, blurred vision, double vision and increased light sensitivity. The cornea might also become scarred or damaged. The risks of these side effects are slim but it is worth being aware of the risks before opting for a surgical procedure.

Before making any plans for vision correction you should discuss it in depth with your ophthalmologist or doctor and discuss various options. LASIK is only one of several types of vision correction procedures which are available these days and it is not the most suitable type of vision correction surgery for everybody.

Actually there are different laser eye surgery procedures for different people. Depending on the degree of your refractive error, how thick your corneas are, your budget and other factors, the recommended type of laser eye surgery might be different for you than for someone else. There are also other eye problems which laser eye surgery cannot treat.

Which is the Best Laser Eye Surgery?

There are various eye laser surgery operations to correct short sight, long sight and astigmatism. The main ones are PRK, LASIK and LASEK. PRK is the original laser eye surgery. LASEK is a no-flap procedure often used for people with thin corneas. Custom Wavefront LASIK, Epi-LASIK and IntraLase LASIK are other quite new eye surgery procedures.

Custom Wavefront LASIK means that a three dimensional measurement of your eyes is made by a computer before surgery so a precise, individual vision correction can be achieved. Epi-LASIK is another option and in this procedure alcohol is used to remove the outer layer of the cornea. IntraLase LASIK is when a second laser is used, rather than a blade.

All of these procedures are safe, apart from the risks associated with any surgical procedure, and will give you the same end results. Some surgeons prefer one of these methods over the others and other surgeons only offer one of these treatments. Sometimes a patient is only suited to one type of eye surgery.

The Difference Between Laser Eye Surgery Techniques

LASIK is one of the most common laser eye treatments carried out today. With this surgery, a thin flap is cut into the cornea with a femtosecond laser or a microkeratome blade. The surgeon folds back the flap and removes corneal tissue with an excimer laser, then the flap is replaced. LASIK is an outpatient procedure and the painless surgery takes only a few minutes.

LASEK is used for patients with corneas that are too steep or too thick for a LASIK procedure, meaning that cutting a flap would be difficult. LASEK was developed to reduce the risk of complications arising from making a flap in a cornea which is the wrong shape or thickness.

If you are not a good LASIK candidate, you might also qualify for PRK which is similar to LASIK but without the flap, epi-LASIK or LASEK. There are also non-laser vision correction procedures to think about.

Which Laser Eye Surgery Heals the Quickest

People who have LASIK eye surgery experience less pain and quicker vision correction on the whole. With PRK the vision correction is gradual rather than immediate and can take several months. PRK is also used for people with thin corneas or large pupils since LASIK might not be an option for these patients. As with other types of surgery, when choosing the best laser eye surgery, you should ask your doctor or ophthalmologist for advice. You might even like to get a second opinion.

The most expensive surgery is not necessary the best eye surgery for you and the newest technology does not necessarily guarantee superior results. There are different types of surgery for different people, so it is best to speak to your ophthalmologist or doctor for their expert opinion. Your eye structure, current prescription, eye health and general health factors must be considered to find out which is the best laser eye surgery for you.

How Much Is LASIK Eye Surgery?

The average cost of LASIK eye surgery ranges from $500 to $2500 per eye but you should not base your choice of eye surgeon on price alone. A more expensive surgeon might have superior equipment, more training and more experience than a cheaper surgeon. Remember also that the quoted prices in advertisements are for each eye so if you need vision correction in both eyes you will have to double the quoted price.

One of the reasons why the price of laser surgery on eyes is relatively high for a fifteen minute operation is the type of technology and laser used. LASIK IntraLase, for example, uses a laser instead of a blade to cut the corneal flap. Custom LASIK is another type vision correction technique which uses Wavefront technology to map the whole eye. These operations can cost another $200 to $500 for each eye.

The average laser eye treatment prices are about $2000 for laser-based vision correction, $1,700 for non-customized LASIK using a blade and excimer lasers and $2,200 for Wavefront-enhanced LASIK with IntraLase.

Discount Eye Surgery

It is inadvisable to opt for any company promoting laser eye surgery with an aggressive advertising campaign. These companies often list the price for very basic surgery without adding on the fees for the extras you will need. Also, the advertised price might only apply to people requiring very minimal eye corrections. Some discount laser eye surgeries only charge less than their competitors because their technology is outdated or because their surgeons are lacking in experience.

Insurance for Vision Correction

Refractive surgery is not covered with a lot of vision insurance plans because it is considered a cosmetic procedure. Some employers have agreements with eye surgery centers for special prices for their employees. You might qualify for a tax deduction on vision correction so it is worth asking your accountant about tax deduction and worth asking your insurance company about insurance for vision correction.

Financing for Vision Correction

Financing is available for laser eye surgery and some financing companies offer plans for long term and fixed rate payments. A lot of eye surgery centers work with these financing companies to offer an affordable financing plan.

Laser surgery on eyes might sound very expensive but if you think about it, spending $40 a month on disposable contact lenses means you are spending the same on contact lenses every four years than you would spend on laser eye surgery for both eyes, the results of which should be permanent.

Paying the highest price you can find does not guarantee that you will find the best laser eye surgeon in the same way as paying a low price does not guarantee a botched job. It is important to research various eye surgeries before making your final decision. Laser eye surgery is not something to rush into and you should consult your doctor or ophthalmologist and check what is available to you before making your final decision.

LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) eye surgery is when the cornea flap is cut with a blade and a laser is used to reshape the eye before the flap is replaced. This process does not hurt and vision should be corrected immediately, although some blurriness is normal for a day or so afterwards.

The Best LASIK Eye Surgeons

Forget about choosing a LASIK eye surgeon based on advertisements in the press or on the television. If you want the best vision correction, remember than laser eye treatment is a surgical process and you obviously want to be in the best hands possible. Anybody can place an advertisement and offer a discounted price. When choosing the best LASIK surgeon, you will want somebody who is qualified, experienced and highly skilled to carry out the work.

The best way to choose a LASIK eye surgeon is to ask for a referral from your regular ophthalmologist or optometrist. You are entitled to meet other LASIK eye surgeons if you want a second opinion. You are never obliged to go with the first one just because you had a consultation.

You can ask your friends and family for recommendations. If you know someone who has had successful laser eye treatment, he or she will usually be happy to recommend their surgeon. Even if you have to travel out of town to visit the surgeon in question, at least you can rest assured that he or she is qualified and has been recommended by a happy customer.

How to Ensure You Get the Best Vision Correction Treatment

When you think you have found the best vision correction surgeon, there are some questions you should ask at your consultation. You should ask how many previous patients attained perfect vision after the surgery. Sixty five percent is the average with the best LASIK eye surgery and you are entitled to ask for proof if the surgeon gives you a much higher figure. You are also entitled to walk out the door if the figure is a lot lower!

For the best LASIK treatment, the surgeon should have been performing eye surgery for three years or more, have completed several hundred general eye procedures and have carried out over a hundred LASIK eye procedures.

When looking for the best LASIK surgery or the best vision correction method, take your time. You might like to get a couple of different names from your optometrist and have consultations with both surgeons before making your decision. When thinking about surgery for your eyes, only the best will do, which is why it is vital to take your time in deciding where to go for the best LASIK treatment.

Possible Laser Vision Correction Problems During Surgery

It is highly unlikely that the laser equipment will malfunction during the operation but it is not impossible. If this happens, the procedure might have to stop partway through. Another error such as cutting a flap the whole way through instead of creating a hinge during LASIK might lead to irreversible eye damage.

Even when everything goes well, there are some side effects which it is important you know about. Older patients should be informed before surgery that it is not possible to have both good near vision and good distance vision in the same eye without contact lenses or glasses.

If one eye is being done at a time, the eyes might not be able to work together properly between the two treatments. If that happens, driving will not be possible between the two treatments and vision might be blurry which can lead to headaches.

You might be under treated or over treated, meaning you will need additional surgical treatment, glasses or contact eyes. If you have a large refractive error, the surgery might not give the hoped for results and you will still have to wear contact lenses or glasses. There is no hundred percent guarantee with any type of laser eye surgery.

Possible Laser Vision Correction Problems After Surgery

Some laser eye surgery patients might develop debilitating visual symptoms after the surgery, such as halos, double vision or glare which affects their night time vision. Other patients might lose lines of sight on a chart which cannot be corrected afterwards with surgery, glasses or contact lenses.

Dry eye syndrome might affect patients after laser eye surgery. This means the eye will not be able to produce enough tears to keep the eye comfortable and moist, which will be uncomfortable and can reduce visual quality. This condition can be permanent. Migration of the eye flap, inflammation or infection might require intensive eye drop treatment or another procedure. These complications can even lead to temporary or permanent blindness.

There is a tiny chance of an infected cornea after PRK and a smaller chance still of an infected cornea after LASIK. This means that healing will take longer and your eye will be uncomfortable while it heals.

Your eye laser surgery results might diminish with age, especially with older patients. LASIK surgery has only been used since 1998 so long term effectiveness and safety is not known.

Despite these worries about laser eye surgery, it is still a generally safe process and thousands of people are delighted with the results of using laser for corrrection of vision problems. Every type of surgery carries small risks and it is important to be aware of the pros and cons before you make the decision to have laser vision correction.

It is very important after laser eye surgery that your follow the instructions the doctor has given you. Use any prescriptions you are given, get sufficient rest and call your doctor right away if anything seems to be wrong. What happens after laser eye surgery can affect your vision as much as the laser procedure itself.

After laser eye surgery, you will need to rest in the clinic for a while and then someone else will need to drive you home. Your eye will probably be covered with a protective pad which you will need to wear for a day. You should not be in pain but you might have discomfort around the eye area, which can be treated with painkillers. Your vision might be a bit blurry after the procedure but it should improve over the next couple of days. You will be given eye drops to promote healing and prevent eye infection and a date for a follow up visit. You might want to wear a hat or sunglasses when you leave the clinic, since your eyes after LASIK will probably be very sensitive to the light.

What Not to Do After LASIK

At home, you need to rest for several hours at least. You might be able to work the following day but most doctors will advise you to rest for a few days and avoid strenuous exercise for a week or so. You should not rub your eye because there is a small risk of dislodging the flap in the cornea. It is better to bathe rather than shower and avoid getting soap or shampoo in your eye. Do not screw your eyes up or rub them. Do not wear eye make up and do not play contact sports for several weeks after laser eye surgery. If you suffer from eye redness, loss of vision or severe pain, you should contact the clinic. This tips apply to LASEK and PRK as well as LASIK treatments.

Your vision after LASIK should be better immediately but sometimes the process can take days or weeks. LASIK can give you 20/20 vision but some people might only have 20/40 vision after the procedure. 20/40 vision is good enough to drive. It is possible that you will still need contact lenses or glasses after the LASIK surgery depending on how it goes but your prescription will be lower than it was before.

Possible Eye Surgery Complications

Some people are unlucky enough to suffer from postoperative complications such as night glare, floaters in the eye, dry eyes, seeing halos around objects in low light or an eye infection. Sometimes people might experience an improvement in their vision and then a worsening. This is rare but if it happens you might need a second operation.

After LASEK or PRK

LASEK is less likely to cause dry eyes than LASIK but the visual recovery time will be more. It often takes a couple of weeks before full functional vision is attained and this is similar to the healing time with PRK surgery. LASEK patients need to wear a bandage contact lens for several days after the surgery and use topical steroid drops for several weeks longer than LASIK patients do.

Whichever type of laser eye surgery you go for, it is important to know what will happen afterwards. If you have any more questions about life after LASIK, you should ask your doctor about this before the surgery.

What is LASIK Eye Surgery?

In LASIK surgery, an excimer laser, which uses a cool, ultraviolet beam, is used to remove corneal tissue. This corrects the shape of the cornea and gives better focusing. A thin flap is made in the eye covering and folded back to allow the laser access to the cornea. After the treatment, the flap is closed and the eye heals itself.

You need to be healthy to receive LASIK eye surgery and not have rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, glaucoma, lupus, cataracts or a herpes eye infection.

LASIK Eye Surgery Procedure

Soft contact lens wearers must stop wearing the lenses five to seven days before their LASIK surgery. Hard contact lenses should not be worn for several months before the surgery. The corneas are examined with a pachymeter before the surgery, to find out how thick they are. A topographer measures the surface contour of the corneas. With this information, the surgeon can work out how much corneal tissue to remove and whereabouts to remove it from.

You will normally get an antibiotic before the LASIK eye surgery to minimize infection risk and you might also get anesthetic eye drops and a mild sedative. You will need to be awake during the LASIK.

First of all, the hinged flap is created with either a metal blade or a laser. The flap is folded back to reveal the stroma, which is the middle part of the cornea. Next, an excimer laser is used to remodel the stroma. The laser can vaporize unwanted tissue without damaging the stroma. This laser ablation tends to be less painful than PRK eye surgery and the recovery time will be less.

When the flap is lifted, you will only be able to see white light and your vision will be very blurry. This can be disconcerting but is normal. After the laser work is done, the flap is repositioned and checked for debris and air bubbles. The eye naturally holds the flap in place and heals it.

After LASIK Surgery

You will be given a course of anti-inflammatory, antibiotic eye drops after the LASIK eye surgery. You will be advised to sleep more than usual and you might get a pair of darkened eye shields since your eyes will be sensitive to light. These eye shields also minimize the chance of rubbing your eyes in your sleep. Your vision might blurry for up to several weeks after the operation. You should not drive until you can see properly. Many people, however, can see clearly as soon as the day after the surgery.

LASIK eye surgery can be expensive and few insurance companies cover the cost of refractive surgery. If you are happy wearing glasses or contact lenses, this surgery might not be for you but if you are keen to have eye surgery, thousands of people have already had LASIK and are delighted with the results.

If you have ICL surgery as an outpatient, the whole procedure should take less than half an hour and one eye is treated at a time. First the eye is numbed with anesthetic and you might be given a mild sedative. The eye area is cleaned and a sterile drape might be put into place. A small device is used to stop you blinking. The implantable lens is inserted through a small incision made in the eye and planted in position in front of the natural eye lens. A gel substance is also injected into the eye with it to help settle the lens in the right place. After the surgery, the gel is removed.

Most patients notice better vision the day of their surgery. The full effects are noticed between one and seven days after the operation. Your eye should be completely healed within a month or two.

Visian ICL New Eye Surgery

There are two kinds of ICL lenses used in this new eye surgery process. The Visian ICL will be inserted via a small incision and will unfold itself into place between the eye’s lens and the iris. The tiny incision made in the eye will heal itself. The Verisyse lens uses a different procedure. This type of lens is inserted via a larger incision through the iris. This incision is closed with dissolvable sutures.

Visian ICL surgery is a new eye surgery which is suitable for people between twenty one and forty five years old, suffering from nearsightedness, who have no history of eye disease such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy or iritis. For Visian ICL, you should not have had any eye surgery previously. Over forty thousand people have had a Visian ICL procedure and more than 99% of them are happy with the outcome.

The lenses used in Visial ICL are made of Collamer, which is a biocompatible advanced lens material containing purified collagen. This material does not cause a reaction in the eye and it contains added eye protection in the form of an ultraviolet blocker.

After ICL Surgery

You will need to return to the ophthalmologist within twenty four hours of the surgery for a check up. Your surgeon might instruct you to use a protective shield over your eye while it heals and to use eye drops. You can take over the counter medications to manage any pain.

As you get older, you might need to update your ICL prescription but, judging by current research, it does seem that most prescriptions stay constant, eliminating the need for further surgery.

What is PRK Eye Surgery?

PRK eye surgery is a laser vision procedure used to correct vision. PRK stands for photorefractive keratectomy. In this procedure, the laser surgeon will use an excimer laser in this surgery to reshape the curvature of the eye.

This laser uses a cool, ultraviolet light beam to remove tiny bits of tissue from the cornea’s surface, in order to reshape it. When the cornea is reshaped, it will be more able to focus light into the eye and on to the retina, meaning your vision will be clearer than it was before. PRK was developed in 1986 and was the most common laser eye surgery before LASIK.

What is the Difference between PRK Eye Surgery and LASIK?

In LASIK eye surgery, a flap is created in the cornea but in the PRK eye surgery this is not required, so PRK is a better option for patients who have thin corneas, large pupils, dry eyes or other corneal problems. With PRK however, the recovery time is usually more than with LASIK and there is usually greater discomfort with this procedure.

What Happens in PRK Surgery?

A computerized, detailed map of the surface of your eyes is made before the surgery and the surgeon uses this to calibrate the excimer laser correctly. The technician will place an eyelid holder in your eye to keep it open and you will have some anesthetic drops put in your eye to numb it.

First the surgeon removes the epithelium, which is the protective surface layer of the cornea. This regenerates itself within five days. Next the surgeon smooths the area and applies cool laser pulses of light to reshape the eye’s curvature. The deeper cell layers are not affected.

This procedure takes less than a minute and a clear bandage contact lens is placed on the cornea immediately afterward, as protection, as well as eye drops. Only a tiny layer is removed from the cornea so it will keep its original strength. You might have one eye treated per day or the surgeon might do both on the same day.

After the PRK Surgery

Your eye might feel irritated for a few days after the PRK eye surgery but you can take medication to manage this. Your eyes might also be light sensitive or watery for a few days afterward. You might have visual fluctuations in the first week after the operation because this is when the corneal surface cells are regrowing.

Your vision will improve gradually and should be good enough for you to drive a car a couple of weeks after the PRK eye surgery. Your best vision might not happen for between six weeks and six months after the surgery however.

Antibiotic eye drops should be used for a few months after the operation and also anti-inflammatory agents to reduce swelling and reduce irritation. When the epithelium has healed, the bandage contact lens can be removed.

Who Can Benefit from Laser Eye Surgery?

Laser eye surgery is not suitable for everyone. People with ongoing medical conditions such as diabetes or glaucoma are not good laser eye surgery candidates for example. Also, anyone suffering from an autoimmune disease, uncontrolled vascular disease or some types of eye diseases involving the retina or cornea which laser eye surgery could make worse should not opt for this type of surgery. Pregnant women should not have laser eye surgery, because the eye refraction can change during pregnancy.

Types of Laser Eye Surgery

There are various types of laser eye surgery. One of the most common is LASIK, which stands for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis. With this procedure, a microkeratome metal blade is used to cut the cornea flap and an excimer laser is used to reshape the eye. The flap is replaced directly after the laser treatment. This is painless and vision is usually corrected immediately although things might look blurry for a day or so.

PRK, or photorefractive keratectomy, is another type of laser eye surgery. The outer layer of the cornea is manually scraped away in PRK and the excimer laser reshapes the tissues on the surface of the cornea. The outer layer grows back by itself. PRK is an option for people with thin corneas. The PRK laser eye surgery can be a bit uncomfortable and the recovery time is longer than with LASIK.

LASEK is similar in some ways to LASIK and is often performed on patients who do not fit the requirements for LASIK surgery. A 20% alcohol solution is used in LASEK to loosen the epithelium, or outer layer of the cornea, and it is peeled back with a fine blade called a trephine to expose the cornea. The excimer laser is applied to the surface of the corner. After the surgery the epithelium is replaced and a bandage contact lens is worn to promote healing.

In Epi-LASEK surgery, a separator is used to preserve a living layer of epithelium, or the outer cornea. This layer is replaced after the laser treatment. Epi-LASEK surgery is not too uncomfortable and the eyes should heal quickly.

Which Laser Eye Surgery is Best?

Which laser eye surgery to choose depends on your doctor’s recommendations. There are different types of surgery to suit different needs. The best laser eye surgery for one person might be the worst choice for another.

PRK was developed before LASIK surgery and there have been advancements to LASIK technology, such as Wavefront technology. This creates a detailed eye map so the surgeon can be more precise. LASEK has various advantages too, such as the fact that there will be no problems cutting and reattaching a flap in the eye, since the process is different. A disadvantage of LASEK is that many people do not have optimum vision until a couple of weeks after the treatment. Epi-LASIK is the newest laser eye surgery process.

To find out which laser eye surgery is the most suitable for you, it is best to consult a doctor or get a recommendation from your own eye surgeon.