Things You Need To Know About LASIK Eye Surgery

LASIK is the most well-known and commonly utilized laser vision repair procedure. Using this approach, you may get rid of your glasses or contact lenses. In LASIK surgery, the dome-shaped transparent tissue at the front of your eye (cornea) is reshaped using a special cutting laser to improve eyesight.

In eyes with normal vision, the cornea precisely bends (refracts) light onto the retina at the back of the eye. Myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism all cause light to bend improperly, obstructing vision. Glasses or contact lenses can be used to correct vision, but the cornea can also be altered to get the appropriate refraction.

LASIK surgery may be an option for treating one of these vision problems:

• Nearsightedness is a condition in which a person's vision is blurred (myopia). When your eyeball is somewhat longer than usual or the cornea bends too sharply, light rays concentrate in front of the retina, obstructing distant vision. Objects that are near to you can be plainly seen, while those further away cannot.

• Hyperopia - When you have a shorter than average eyeball or an extremely flat cornea, light focuses behind the retina rather than on it. This results in blurry vision at both close and remote distances.

• Astigmatism occurs when the cornea bends or flattens unevenly, affecting the focus of near and far vision.

Preparing for surgery can be done in the following ways:

• Most insurance companies will not pay the cost of LASIK surgery since it is deemed elective. Make sure you have enough cash on hand to cover your expenses.

• Make travel plans to return home. You'll need a mode of transportation to and from your procedure. You may still be experiencing side effects from the medication you were prescribed prior to surgery, and your vision may be blurry shortly afterward.

• It's better to avoid any sort of eye makeup, creams, fragrances, or lotions the day before and the day of your operation.

What can you expect before the LASIK eye surgery?

People will be properly assessed before surgery to determine that they are appropriate candidates for the operation tend to get the greatest long-term benefits from LASIK.

• If you wear contact lenses, which might alter the curvature of your cornea, you'll need to stop using them for at least a few weeks before your examination and operation, and only wear your spectacles. Depending on the type of contact lenses you use and how long you've been using them, your doctor will give you precise instructions.

• Your eye specialist will ask about your medical and surgical history and do a thorough eye examination to assess your eyesight and determine whether you can safely undertake the surgery.

• Your eye doctor will also assess the shape, contour, thickness, and abnormalities of your cornea. Your eye specialist will assess which parts of your cornea require reshaping and calculate the exact amount of tissue to be removed.

Before LASIK surgery, doctors usually employ wavefront-guided technology to thoroughly examine your eye. The more precise your eye doctor can be while removing corneal tissue, the more thorough the measurements are.

During the LASIK surgery

• LASIK procedure normally takes 30 minutes or less to complete. You will be lying on your back in a reclining chair for the process.

• It's possible that you'll be offered medication to help you relax.

• Your doctor will use equipment to keep your eyelids open after placing numbing drops in your eye.

• A suction ring put on your eye right before cutting the corneal flap might induce a pressure sensation and cause your vision to fade somewhat.

• A little hinged flap is sliced away from the front of your eye by the eye surgeon using a small blade or a cutting laser.

• When you fold back the flap, your doctor can see the region of your cornea that needs to be reshaped. Your eye surgeon reshapes sections of your cornea using a controlled laser.

• A little bit of corneal tissue is eliminated with each laser pulse.

• The surgeon replaces the flap after reshaping the cornea. Usually, the flap heals without the need for sutures.

During the procedure, you will be instructed to concentrate on a single point of light. While the laser reshapes your cornea, you may keep your eye fixed by staring at this light.

After the procedure

Your eye may itch, feel gritty, burn, or be runny just after surgery. Your eyesight will most likely be hazy. In most cases, there will be little pain, and your eyesight will return fast. For many hours following the treatment, you may be given pain medicine or eye drops to make you comfortable. Until your eye heals, your eye doctor may advise you to put a shield over your eye at night. After surgery, you will be able to see, although your eyesight will not be clear straight immediately. It takes two to three months for your eye to recover and your eyesight to settle following surgery. Your odds of seeing better after surgery are partly determined by how excellent your eyesight was prior to surgery.

One to two days following surgery, you'll have a follow-up visit with your eye doctor. He or she will examine your eye to evaluate how it is healing and look for any potential issues. Other follow-up appointments, as recommended by your doctor, should be scheduled throughout the first six months after surgery. It may take a few weeks for you to resume using cosmetics around your eyes. It's also possible that you'll have to wait a few weeks before returning to strenuous contact sports, swimming, or hot tubs.

Without the need for glasses or contact lenses, LASIK may typically enhance eyesight. After refractive surgery, you have an excellent chance of seeing 20/25 or better. More than 80% of patients who have had LASIK refractive surgery no longer require glasses or contact lenses for most activities. The outcome is determined by your refractive error and other things. Refractive surgery works well for people who have a mild to moderate degree of nearsightedness. People with astigmatism with a significant degree of nearsightedness or farsightedness have fewer predictable outcomes.

The procedure may result in under-correction in rare circumstances. If this occurs, you may require more surgery to obtain the desired results. Rarely, some people's eyes gradually regain their pre-surgery level of vision. This might be caused by a variety of factors, including irregular wound healing, hormone abnormalities, or pregnancy. Another eye condition, such as a cataract, can cause this shift in vision. Any changes in your vision should be discussed with your doctor.