For patients who consistently complete their annual eye exams, it can become a pain to spend year after year purchasing contacts or glasses. In addition to purchasing solutions, completing a nightly care routine; or for those with glasses, the never-ending scratches, smudges, or irritation of having to constantly adjust your lenses can become too much. Fortunately, LASIK surgery offers a great solution to quit the runaround of keeping up with a regular eye routine and getting back to living your life, while still having a clear vision.
LASIK is an acronym that stands for Laser-Assisted in situ Keratomileusis. What it really means for you, is that after a quick office procedure, you’ll be seeing clearly by as soon as tomorrow.
What is LASIK?
Whether you have an issue that has changed the shape of your eye, or your vision has gotten worse because of natural aging, you may be a candidate for LASIK surgery. LASIK helps to reshape the curvature of your cornea. This helps to restore the proper shape and allows light to pass through and be correctly interpreted by the components of the eye.
Upon completion of the procedure, many patients experience 20/25 vision or better, sometimes as soon as the next day, although results can take up to two weeks to be fully recognized. Your results may vary depending on your condition. Patients with nearsightedness tend to have the best results, while extreme nearsightedness and farsightedness, when combined with astigmatism, have less reliable results.
What does LASIK involve?
LASIK is a relatively straightforward procedure that has been refined through the course of many years and regular review. The procedure itself can usually be completed in under an hour for both eyes. Before your operation, our staff will create a detailed digital “map” of your eyes. This can then be used to identify exactly where tissue needs to be removed and how much should be taken off with the laser.
The cutting laser is then programmed and takes off the appropriate amount of tissue in multiple passes over the eye. Each time the laser passes across the eye, it takes off microscopic amounts of tissue to ensure that the eye is properly shaped with minimal effort.
Ideal Candidates
While you should always schedule a consultation to see if you are a good candidate for LASIK, there are certain things that we look for in our offices to make sure that you’ll be satisfied with the outcome. Typically, individuals who have a moderate degree of refractive error, and no other issues will have the best outcome. During your evaluation, the doctor will ask you several questions about your eye health and do an examination to ensure that issues that may impact your ability to recover or receive LASIK surgery are not present. Some of these issues include:
• Keratoconus – Even if you don’t have keratoconus, be sure to let the doctor know if it runs in your family. If this is the case, you should be very cautious about LASIK surgery.
• Keratitis, uveitis, or herpes that affects the tissues of the eye.
• Eye injuries or damage
• Dry eyes – Many patients who have eye dryness find that LASIK makes the condition worse.
• Glaucoma
• Cataracts
In addition, you should also consider your general health and ability to recover from minor injuries or sickness. There are certain diseases such as diabetes or HIV that can cause additional concerns for a LASIK operation. Talk to your doctor about any other health concerns that you have.
Overview
If you are tired of dealing with contacts or glasses, it is the perfect time to consider LASIK surgery. This simple operation can help you ditch the prescriptions for good. Contact our offices today to schedule an appointment.
