Overview of Laser Vision Correction

Many people continue to wear their prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses to correct their eyesight for a simple reason: they're afraid that they have no choice. That couldn't be farther from the truth. A large percentage of people with poor eyesight, nearsightedness, farsightedness and even those with astigmatism, can benefit from laser eye surgery. Laser vision surgery has become very popular in recent years, because it has several distinct advantages over other common corrective procedures, including little or no post procedure pain, and improved vision is achieved normally within a single day.

Commonly, the procedure for laser vision correction is called LASIK, which is an acronym that stands for Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis — fancy Latin words that mean laser (which is also an acronym, by the way) assisted shaping (mileusis) of the cornea (kera) in its original position (in situ - and no doubt you're heaving a sigh of relief on that one). In layman's terms, Lasik surgery uses a laser to reshape the cornea of your eye enabling it to focus light more accurately.

This ambulatory procedure (meaning you walk in, have the surgery, and walk out) is performed by your ophthalmologist or surgeon who will first place anesthetic drops in your eyes. Then, using a bladed instrument (that looks a lot like a disposable razor) called a microkeratome the doctor will create a thin spherical flap in the cornea. A technology recently developed provides an alternative to the "blade" and uses a different laser to create the corneal flap - that will certainly come as good news to those individuals with a fear of pointy things coming near their eyeball.

The corneal flap is folded out of the way, and then using another laser, the surgeon removes miniscule bits of tissue to reshape the cornea. The whole process is done with the aid of a computer, which adjusts the laser so that it will match your prescription. When the procedure is finished, the flap is put back into place. From start to finish, the procedure generally takes no more than five minutes per eye, though it may take a little longer if your prescription is heavy.

Your surgeon will generally have you rest for a short while and then give you post operative care instructions and send you home - you cannot drive yourself, even if you only had surgery on one eye. You may feel mild discomfort for a few days, but the good news is that you should start to see better the day following your laser eye surgery. And the best news of all… no more glasses!