Lasik: The Eye Laser Miracle (eBook)

THE SURGERY IS EASYLaser vision treatment is a very easy procedure to undergo. No injections are needed, and there is no pain during the procedure. These are the steps you will experience:

1. Your doctor will measure your eyes to determine your amount of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. During this presurgical consultation, your doctor will complete a thorough examination of the health of your eyes and discuss the procedure in detail with you.

2. The laser will be calibrated and tested for accuracy.

3. The correction desired for your eye will be entered into the laser's computer.

4. The computer will determine the specific set of laser pulses to apply.

5. You will be brought into the laser room and asked to lie down.

6. A patch will be placed over the eye not having the procedure.

7. Anesthetic eyedrops will be placed in the eye. No injections or IVs are needed.

8. Your eyelid will be held open with a small speculum, which causes no pain.

9. You will be asked to look at a small blinking light.

10. In Lasik, a small amount of tissue, known as the corneal flap, will be separated and lifted. In PRK, the doctor will gently wipe away the most superficial layer covering the cornea.

11. You will hear a clicking noise, the sound of the laser.

12. The blinking light will get hazy as the treatment progresses.

13. The treatment will usually take less than thirty seconds of laser time.

14. Eyedrops will be placed in the eye. In some cases, a temporary contact lens will be placed in the eye as well.

15. In most cases, the procedure will then be repeated for the second eye.

16. You will sit up and rest for a few minutes before going home. Your stay in the treatment room has lasted about five to ten minutes.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? And it is. But how accurate are the results? What can go wrong? Are you a suitable candidate for laser vision correction, or should you consider alternatives? These questions will be addressed shortly. First, we will examine the mechanics of the eye.

HOW DOES THE EYE WORK?

Just like a camera, the eye works by focusing light rays. Light entering the eye first passes through a transparent layer called the cornea. The cornea acts as a lens by focusing the light. Located behind the cornea is another lens, known as the crystalline lens, that further focuses the light to make a clear image on the retina at the back of the eye. Finally, the image is transmitted to the brain by the optic nerve.

Just as a camera cannot produce a clear photograph if the incoming light is not focused precisely onto the film, so the eye cannot produce clear vision if the cornea and crystalline lens do not focus the light precisely onto the retina.

The eye is very similar to a camera. Light rays are focused by the cornea and crystalline lens. The focus must be accurate in order to obtain a clear image.

COMMON VISION PROBLEMS

The most common vision problem is the inability to focus incoming light precisely onto the retina. The result is blurred vision.

There are four types of focusing errors:

Nearsightedness. Nearsighted people see near objects more clearly than objects farther away. In nearsightedness (also known as myopia), light rays from distant objects are focused not onto the retina but in front of the retina. Nearsightedness occurs because the cornea and the crystalline lens together have too much focusing power for the length of the eye. If the cornea and the crystalline lens had less combined focusing power, or if the eye were shorter, then the light rays would be focused...