Are You Really Ready for the LASIK Eye Surgery?

What's the LASIK surgery meaning

#The eye and vision errors

In order to see things, it is necessary for the eye's light to focus on the retina through the cornea and the lens. With refractive disorders, light rays entering the eye are not focused on the retina, causing blurred vision. The shape of the eye or cornea or age-related stiffness of the lens may decrease the focusing power of the eye. Objects may appear blurry when far away, near, or both.

Myopia

Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is a common type of refractive error where close objects appear clearly, but distant objects appear blurry.

Hypermetropia

Hypermetropia, also known as long-sightedness is where the image of a nearby object is formed behind the retina. It's a common type of refractive error where distant objects appear clearly, but close objects appear blurry.

#The refractive surgery -- LASIK

Glasses or contact lenses are designed to compensate for the eye's imperfections. Surgical procedures aimed at improving the focusing power of the eye are called refractive surgery.

LASIK is a very well-known corrective eye surgery. People have LASIK eye surgery for various reasons:

They don't feel they look good in glasses.
They don't like to use/carry contact lenses.
Putting contact lenses on is a waste of time/money, etc.

In LASIK surgery, precise and controlled removal of corneal tissue by a special laser reshapes the cornea changing its focusing power.

LASIK surgery usually takes around 10 mins to complete and it does not cause much discomfort.

How LASIK works

The purpose of Lasik eye surgery is to correct vision without the use of glasses or contact lenses. Because the cornea works like a lens in a camera, eyesight can be fixed by cutting or scratching the surface of the cornea. In the beginning, surgeons used a scalpel to make a cut in the cornea which is called RK surgery, but this procedure is no longer used. After that, PRK surgery was invented which is where they use a laser to scratch the cornea directly. But because these surgeries leave a wide scar and need time to heal, LASIK was invented and now people still get this surgery.

1. A thin flap of the cornea is cut using either a microkeratome blade or a femtosecond laser.

2. The surgeon folds back the flap, then removes some corneal tissue underneath using an excimer laser.

3. After closing the flap, the flap heals naturally.

4. Completed!

Advantages and disadvantages of LASIK

LASIK is a very established surgery and there are not many problems involved with it if you choose a trustworthy LASIK eye clinic. However, there will always be some pros and cons since it is surgery.

PROS:

With a 90% probability, the unaided visual acuity becomes about 1.0 after a LASIK procedure and patients will not need glasses or contact lenses anymore.
Patients don't need to stay in a hospital overnight and Lasik surgery doesn't cause much pain afterward.
As soon as only one day after a LASIK procedure, the patient’s eyesight will be fully recovered and they can see clearly without glasses.

CONS:

LASIK may cause dry eye, or the halo phenomenon which is a symptom that causes bright lights to appear smudged, also the glare phenomenon which causes the patients' sensitivity to bright lights at night time.
Lasik is not covered by medical insurance. - For those who have Keratoconus, Glaucoma, or who have thin corneas LASIK is not an option. - Your vision might possibly change after the surgery.
Because your vision changes, it's better to wait until after you reach the age of 20 years old. Because the cost of LASIK varies depending on which method you prefer, make sure you do a thorough consultation before opting for the surgery.