Some people are back in to their original prescription or in glasses within three to five years- How typical is this type of regression?

The majority of the cases of regression occur with reading vision. This is a normal part of getting older. On the other hand, becoming more nearsighted is very rare, roughly 5%. Of those 5% of nearsighted cases many of them can undergo enhancement procedures to correct the problem. These cases are much less common then they used to be due to the new way corneas are shaped.

It is highly unlikely to revert completely to original prescription. If this does occur it means something else is going on with the eye…maybe cataracts. What is the most common cause of regression? Dry eyes. If you allow dry eyes to go untreated you may experience regression or loss of effect from the surgery.

What can I do to make sure everything goes smoothly with my surgery?

Doing your homework and selecting a clinic that focuses on the patient, as opposed to volume of surgeries, will be very important. You may be tempted to go to a place that does 40 or 50 surgeries a day but this isn’t in your best interest. The lasers need to be calibrated regularly, sometimes after each surgery. The more procedures that occur in one day the more likely mistakes can happen. If you are wearing contacts make sure to leave them out for the recommended time before the surgery. This can be anywhere from one to several weeks depending on the type of contacts. On the day of the surgery don’t wear eye make-up, perfume, or cologne.

Can Lasik eye surgery fix extreme nearsightedness? I heard it can’t fully repair the problem.

The solution that most people with extreme nearsightedness use is a phakic intraocular lens implant. Basically a lens is put inside the eye. That way you don’t have to worry about the lens getting too thin as you age. The major risk with putting a lens inside the eye is infection. If infection occurs you could loose your sight. This has never happened in clinical studies but it is still a risk.

What are the most important factors to be a candidate of Lasik surgery?

The thickness, shape, and strength of your cornea are the most important factors. Above all the thickness of your cornea will be the determining factor.

What are the major side effects of Lasik eye surgery?

The most common side effect is dry eyes. It usually only lasts three to six months and can be treated with medicated eye drops or oral Bio Tears treatments. Dry eyes are more common in women then men and affects postmenopausal women more acutely then other women. The other side effects occur in vision at night with halos or glares of light. These are most common in cases of extreme correction and are becoming more rare with new Lasik technology.

How likely is it that I will need corrective or enhancing surgery later on?

Only ten percent of patients need enhancing surgery after their initial correction. This is determined within three to six months after the first surgery. As a rule of thumb, corrections are more common in those that had higher corrections to start with. With wave-based Lasik the one-time surgery rates are much higher.

I can still remember that fateful day. I lay in bed, ready to get into my favorite book and it appeared that someone put a dimmer bulb in the bed lamp. Nope! Turns out that the head lamps were going dim a lot longer than I was aware of. It is fact of life that affects many of us and for me; it was around my 40th birthday. It wasn’t enough that I was going over the hill, its out I was having a hard time even seeing the hill.

So why Lasik and why is it so popular? LASIK has advantages over other procedures, including a relative lack of pain afterward and the fact that good vision is usually achieved by the very next day.

LASIK is the most commonly performed refractive surgery procedure. You may hear people calling it “LASIX,” but the name is actually short for “laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis.”

An instrument called a microkeratome is used in LASIK eye surgery to create a thin, circular flap in the cornea. Another, newer way of making the flap is with a laser. Read more about the recently developed IntraLase laser that is used for this purpose.

The way the procedure works is that the surgeon folds the flap back out of the way, and then removes some corneal tissue underneath using an excimer laser. The excimer laser uses a cool ultraviolet light beam to precisely remove (”ablate”) very tiny bits of tissue from the cornea to reshape it. When the cornea is reshaped in the right way, it works better to focus light into the eye and onto the retina, providing clearer vision than before. The flap is then laid back in place, covering the area where the corneal tissue was removed.

Both nearsighted and farsighted people can benefit from the LASIK procedure. With nearsighted people, the goal is to flatten the too-steep cornea; with farsighted people, a steeper cornea is desired. While this is not widely recognized by consumers, excimer lasers also can correct astigmatism by smoothing an irregular cornea into a more normal shape.

California Lasik eye surgery, which can cost thousands of dollars and will not be covered by most insurance companies, grew in popularity during the 1990s but slowed amid the 2001 recession. The numbers are slowly rising again, but some patients are squeamish about having blades inserted into their eyes, experts say.

The bottom line is LASIK surgery is becoming more common place. The number of surgeries performed each year is in the thousands and has become an extremely safe procedure. The best bet is to contact your personal physician, have him connect you with an eye specialist that will examine you and give the best possible advice to see if LASIK is right for you.

Laser eye surgery has been such an enormous boon for the “seeing-eye” world that thousands of people with defective sight problems can thank this relatively simple and quick procedure for restoring their sight to acceptable and satisfying levels. But are you aware that their are risks associated with laser eye surgery?

It’s foolhardy to think that any type of surgery is risk free and laser eye surgery is no different. The question you have to ask yourself is whether the benefits of having this type of procedure outweigh the risks and in most cases patients will choose the former.

The good news is that the chances of suffering serious vision-threatening side effects from laser eye surgery are extremely low. But there are risks nevertheless and you should be aware of them.

What Are The Side Effects?

Corneal infection is always a possibility following procedures such as Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) and Lasik. However, the risk is so low that when it’s presented as a possible worst case scenario to patients, they generally dismiss it as non-threatening. The percentage factor is something like 0.1 per cent which is extremely low. Those who experience it will suffer no long term effects and it usually means a slower healing process and some extra discomfort. It’s hardly reason for concern considering the benefits from receiving the surgery.

Corneal infection aside, one of the more common side effects of laser eye surgery is what is termed as under or over correction. What does this mean? Simply put, it’s difficult to predict exactly how a patients eyes will respond to treatment so in some cases, corrective lenses may be needed in the short term or further surgical treatment is scheduled.

Dry Eyes

Dry eyes are another side effect of laser eye surgery but again, it’s not sight threatening and can be treated easily with lubricating drops. Patients are generally more worried about the inconvenience of the extra healing time which can amount to several weeks.

PRK patients in some instances will report a condition known as corneal haze. Corneal haze occurs during the recovery process and while it is not threatening in the majority of procedures, there is always the possibility that vision could be impaired somewhat if the haze becomes excessive. As a prospective patient, you should be made aware of this but again, it shouldn’t affect any decision you may make in going ahead with surgery.

Lasik Risks

Flap damage is a risk for lasik patients. The worst case scenario is that the flap could be irrepairably damaged or even lost however, once again the chances of this occurring are extremely low. Another risk for lasik patients involves the possibility of suffering a distorted corneal shape which may occur during healing. If this occurs, it will have some impact on the overall quality of vision.

If you are concerned about the side effects of laser eye surgery then you need to discuss them with your surgeon. We’ve covered a few but there are others, including a condition known as regression. It simply means that the eye may retreat to it’s former state following surgery. This could occur several months following the procedure and further surgery may need to be scheduled. The bottomline… yes, there are risks associated with surgery but in the world of “laser eye” they are extremely low.

Whenever laser eye surgery or laser vision correction is mentioned, “LASIK” is often the next thought. Today, laser vision correction procedures are so technologically advanced that there are many options besides the conventional LASIK surgery.

Understand Your Options

For the individual looking to reduce their dependency on glasses or contacts, surgical procedures which improve the focusing power of the eye, are a tremendously effective option. The procedure commonly referred to as LASIK is the most technologically advanced way to correct vision, and has helped millions of people worldwide reduce their dependency on glasses and contact lenses.

LASIK surgery uses a cool beam, also known as an excimer, to reshape the surface of the eye, the cornea. By altering the shape of the cornea it is able to change the angle in which light enters the eye. Glasses and contact lenses employ this same theory with an impermanent change. In the past LASIK has had some limitations but now is able to successfully correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

LASIK is the most common term used to refer to laser vision correction procedures. All forms of LASIK use an excimer laser to reshape the cornea, but there are variations to the procedure which provide different advantages. A series of vision tests called Advanced Diagnostic Testing allows your doctor to determine which approach is best for you.

LASIK

LASIK (Laser-Assisted in-Situ Keratomileusis) gently reshapes the cornea with the use of an excimer laser. In traditional LASIK, an extraordinarily thin flap is created in the top layer of the cornea and then gently folded back. The underlying layer is then re-shaped with the laser in a matter of seconds, correcting the refractive errors that cause the vision impairment. The flap is then repositioned across the cornea, which naturally adheres and begins to heal within minutes. Of all the laser vision correction procedures, LASIK provides the most comfortable and rapid healing process.

Advanced Surface Ablation

ASA refers to the laser vision correction procedures that treat the surface of the cornea without the creation of a flap. PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy) and Epi-LASIK are the two most common forms of ASA and refer to the methods of preparing the corneal surface just prior to using the laser. ASA is the safest form of laser vision correction. It allows a wider range of patients to be treated who may not be able to undergo a traditional LASIK procedure due to thin corneas, job restrictions, or other visual issues. ASA is also considered by many to provide the chance for the sharpest and clearest vision, since there are no induced refractive errors associated with a corneal flap. ASA does have a disadvantage because it usually involves a few days of discomfort (treated with Ibuprofen), and a slower visual recovery time, ranging from a few days to a few weeks. Generally, only the most experienced surgeons practice the Advanced Surface Ablation techniques.

Blended Vision

Blended Vision is a LASIK technique you might want to consider if you wear reading glasses or are nearing the age when reading glasses may become necessary. As we get older, we frequently have trouble reading, particularly small or very fine print. This is a natural part of the aging process associated with the lens inside the eye. When this happens, most people need reading glasses. If you use glasses to read prior to LASIK surgery or you remove your glasses to read, you may need to use glasses for reading after LASIK, because LASIK does not treat the lens inside the eye. However, a Blended Vision procedure may provide you with suitable near and distance vision. Blended Vision, also called monovision, is a technique in which one eye (usually the dominant eye) is corrected for clear distance vision, and the other for comfortable near vision. Blended Vision allows a person to see both close and distant objects clearly, though perhaps not quite as crisply as when both eyes are corrected for just one distance or the other. Many people who wear contacts use blended vision today and are very satisfied. Your doctor will demonstrate how this method works prior to your procedure, and thereby help determine if Blended Vision will work well for you.

CustomCornea ®

Wavefront technology is now being incorporated to identify subtle visual distortions, which up to now have been unable to be measured, let alone be treated. Wavefront treatments such as CustomCornea® provide the best opportunity for superior vision compared to that previously available through older, conventional methods of LASIK.

When it comes to LASIK, there are many options to consider. LASIK candidates are all different in their needs and desires for choosing surgery over glasses or contacts. A successful outcome for refractive surgery is dependent upon choosing the best procedure for their needs and a surgeon who specializes in LASIK..