Laser eye treatment information and guides

Laser eye articles

• Laser eye surgery procedure: what happens?
• Are you suitable for laser eye surgery?
• For and against laser eye treatment
• What happens if laser eye surgery does not work?
• Recovery after laser eye surgery
• The laser eye surgery healing process
• Laser eye surgery effects
• PRK vs. LASIK
• LASIK eye surgery
• PRK eye surgery
• Short sighted PRK surgery
• LASEK eye surgery
• Wavefront LASIK surgery
• Zyoptix LASIK surgery
• EpiLASIK surgery
• IntraLASIK surgery
• How does the eye work?
• Common vision problems
• Laser surgery for short sightedness
• Laser surgery for long sightedness
• Laser surgery for astigmatism
• Laser surgery for presbyopia
• How does laser eye treatment work?
• Laser eye clinic
• Corrective eye surgery
• Laser eye surgeon

Corrective eye surgery

CORRECTIVE EYE SURGERY can be an effective treatment for short sightedness, long sightedness and astigmatism. There have been many advances in corrective eye surgery over the years, and it has greatly improved in terms of safety and results. It is important to understand the basic procedures of the popular types of corrective eye surgery, and who they are suitable for.

Types of corrective eye surgery

The basic process of most corrective eye surgery involves the outer layer of eye cells known as the epithelium, either being removed or cut back. A second step of reshaping the underlying cornea then happens to allow the eye to focus light correctly and repair vision. The differences between various types of corrective eye surgery concern how the epithelium is dealt with and how the corneal reshaping is performed.

Corrective eye surgery: corneal flap procedures

LASIK eye surgery is the most popular type of corrective eye surgery. This typically involves cutting a flap in the cornea that pulls back the epithelium, which allows the laser eye surgeon to reshape the tissue with his cornea. In traditional LASIK the flap is cut with a mechanical scalpel blade, but doctors have also developed IntraLASIK that uses a laser to make the flap, so no mechanical blades are used in the process. One of the latest developments in LASIK is Wavefront LASIK, which uses 3D imaging to map the surface of your eye and plan the reshaping points more accurately before the surgery begins.

Corrective eye surgery: epithelium removal procedures

In EpiLASIK surgery and LASEK surgery, no flap is cut in the cornea and this removes the potential risk of too thick or thin a flap, which can cause complications. Instead, only the thin outer sheet of epithelium is removed for these types of corrective eye surgery. EpiLASIK uses a blunt plastic tool to loosen and then push back the layer of cells, while LASEK uses an alcohol solution and a finer epithelium separation tool. The blunter plastic tool of Epi-LASIK can be more abrasive and cause a slower recovery time, but it avoids the possibility of a bad reaction to the alcohol solution, so each has its advantages. LASEK is a development of the original laser surgery, PRK, which would not replace the epithelium cells after the cornea was reshaped.

Which type of corrective eye surgery is right for you?

Several factors play a role in what corrective eye surgery you might choose. One of the key factors is based on your doctor’s pre-surgery examinations that determine the thickness of your cornea. A cornea that is too too thin will be deemed riskier for flap-cutting procedures. Another issue is whether you have any reactions to any of the chemicals or alcohols used to loosen the epithelium, as determined by your corrective eye surgeon.

Depending on where you live, there might be other restrictions. Some regulations require patients to be of a certain age, to have a certain threshold level of a condition, to have not been wearing contacts for a certain period of time, and other precautions. If you do not meet these requirements, the doctor will work with you to prepare for the right corrective eye surgery over time. Different procedures also have different recovery times, and depending on your lifestyle or major events coming up, this might factor into your decision.

It is important to visit a laser eye clinic and discuss all your options for corrective eye surgery, but it is worth knowing the basics before starting the process. The more informed you are beforehand, the better questions and understanding you will have for meeting potential surgeons, and that leads to successful procedures.

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