Lasik Laser Eye Surgery
Lasik Laser
Lasik derives its name from laser, because in this process, a laser is used under a corneal flap to reshape the cornea. An extremely specialized laser, engineered to improve vision, cure refractive errors, and remove the need of glasses, is employed for this process. This process modifies the shape of cornea. Cornea is the transparent covering at the front of the eye. The development of Lasik is credited to Pallikaris from Greece.
Working of Lasik
In this procedure, the eye surgeon makes a thin-hinged and accurate flap of cornea by making use of a microkeratome. Then the surgeon pulls the flap back, to see the underlying tissue of cornea. After this, the special laser reshapes the cornea in a predetermined way for every patient. After the reshaping, this flap is tenderly repositioned on the underlying cornea.
Refractive Error
There is a focusing system in the human eye that comprises of the eye lens and the cornea (transparent front surface of the eye). The function of this focusing system is to focus the light rays on the retinal surface. This is pretty much like the working of a camera, where the lens of the camera focuses light on film. If your eyes are perfect and healthy, your lens and cornea would be perfectly adjusted to the eye length, and images would appear on focus. Any kind of maladjustment to this arrangement is known as refractive error, and this results in blurred vision.
Types of Refractive Errors
Astigmatism: People who have astigmatism have distorted shape of lens or cornea, which causes many images to form on retina. Due to this condition, all objects seem blurry regardless of their distance from the eye. A number of people have a grouping of astigmatism with either hyperopia or myopia.
Myopia: It is commonly known as nearsightedness. If you were suffering from myopia, you would have maladjustment between eye length and the focusing power, and this causes faraway objects to seem blurred and near objects look clearer.
Hyperopia or hypermetropia: It is commonly called farsightedness. If you were suffering from hyperopia, you would again have maladjustment between eye length and focusing power, but faraway objects would seem clearer and near ones would be blurred.
Types of Lasik
All Lasik procedures use excimer laser, and in that sense, all Lasik procedures are similar. Though they differ depending upon different manufacturers, including Nidek, Bausch & Lomb, Alcon, Wavelight, and Visx etc. These manufacturers have engineered explicit excimer lasers. Also, there are many types of laser extractions that can be done, including wave front guided treatments, wave front optimized treatments, and conventional laser treatments.
Conventional Lasik
Conventional Lasik is effective for almost all patients but can cause more visual problems, like halos, glare and even night vision problems. These problems are more frequent with conventional Lasik.
Lasik is gaining popularity, as it treats most of the vision problems. If you want your glasses to be removed permanently, Lasik is the best solution for you. Consult your eye specialistx for a checkup and consultation in order to know more about it.