Are you living with Refractive Vision problems? Do you hate wearing glasses? you have tried contact lenses, but they aren’t so uncomfortable either! Are you contemplating whether you should go for a LASIK to attain a better vision? Well! If you said “YES” to everything so far, read along. People with refractive vision problems often think of LASIK is their freedom card from glasses. It is estimated that around 300,000 Australians may have visual impairments because of refractive errors.
Refractive problems are vision defects like near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism. Though glasses and contact lenses offer better vision, they do not offer a permanent solution. The refraction keeps changing with time and age, and the sufferer never finds a moment of clarity as their eyesight keeps getting poorer with age. However, LASIK might be the permanent solution that many of us are looking for.
LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileuses. The procedure involves reshaping the cornea to let the light enter the eye properly. Properly shaped cornea leads to correct image formation, and thus, a clear vision. The surgery could give you an enhanced vision without wearing corrective equipment like spectacles or contact lenses.
The procedure:
In LASIK surgery, surgeons permanently change the shape of the cornea with the help of high-focus laser. As a routine, during LASIK your surgeon will either use a mechanical blade or laser to cut a fine flap in the exterior of your cornea, while also leaving a little part attached at the end. To help you envision it, imagine a flap. A corneal flap is created and upon curling the flap back, the doctor will expose the middle section of the cornea. Now a computer-operated laser will reshape the defected section for an ideal vision. At the end of the procedure, the front flap of the cornea is gently placed back.
Before LASIK:
First and the foremost, finding a good doctor is crucial. Take references from friends and family to know more about your options. Talking to a health care expert and asking for references could lead you to a great ophthalmologist. Research thoroughly on the internet and for more help, you could visit website. Assessment- After you finalize the doctor, the doctor would give you a detailed eye evaluation to make sure that your concern can be helped via a Laser surgery. This would include evaluating :
- The shape of your cornea
- The thickness of your cornea
- Pupil size
- Refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism);
- Any other eye conditions
- Another underlying health condition like diabetes, hypertension and other diseases.as well as any other eye conditions.
- Tear film evaluation
- The curvature of the eye with a corneal topographer
If your case needs any custom treatment, you might have to go through Wavefront analysis. This technique helps the doctor to get the exact map of your eye’s interior and plan the LASIK right.
Contact lens wearers would need to stop wearing contacts for a cooling period of around a fortnight.
Advantages:
- A corrected vision- Around 96% of patients can get their desired vision after LASIK.
- The procedure only takes 15 minutes end to end.
- The actual surgery only takes a couple of minutes.
- The procedure is practically pain-free and mostly no stitches are required.
- Patients can experience visual clarity, shortly after a couple of days of the procedure.
- Even after years of surgery, adjustments are possible to further improve your vision, in case the grade changes with age.
- LASIK could help people get rid of glasses.
Side effects:
- Dry eyes- Though this is rarely permanent, most patients report dry eyes after surgery. Post-operative care includes dealing with this condition. About 95% of the people had reported dry eye symptoms just after the procedure. This condition usually subsides for a majority of patients after 2-5 months.
- Inflammation: Little corneal swelling after a LASIK surgery is normal. However, in rare cases, if inflammation persists, it can interfere with healing. Often antibiotics are required to treat such cases.
- The appearance of Glare and halo in lesser light or too much light.
- Under-correction- Where the patient might not have clear vision after Lasik because of lesser tissue removal. This might need corrective surgery.
- Over-correction- Too much tissue removal can be a critical problem as it is irreversible.
- Astigmatism- Distorted vision due to uneven tissue removal .
- Flap problems- If the flap removal and joining are mishandled it can lead to infection. In extreme cases, Epithelial Ingrowth can also lead to loss of vision.
We hope you have received the information you were looking for about the basics of a LASIK surgery. Good luck!
