Laser Treatment has become a major surgical solution to the correction of eyesight problems such as near and farsightedness and astigmatism. The procedure has moved on at a very fast pace from the quite simplistic techniques of a few years ago to the very precise surgical operation of today. It is not successful for every eye but where it can be used there is usually no need of glasses or contact lens.
a) Testing
The starting point is to find a good laser treatment practice, which can test your eyes to see whether they are suitable for operation. One of the major laser treatment practices claim to turn away a large number of the people who come for testing but are not suitable for one reason or another. There are various major companies with a good reputation capable of using the latest techniques and there are various sources to check the references of the various laser treatment companies to see customer satisfaction rates. It is essential to pick a company that you are satisfied can meet your needs.
The test is relatively painless and does not take too long but you will need to take somebody with you as your vision may be disturbed for a short while and it would not be sensible to drive yourself home. At this stage you will be told if you if you are a suitable candidate and your eye will be profiled to determine the corrections, which must be made to bring your eyesight back to a suitable standard.
Time for Treatment
Typical eyesight problems start in late 30's to mid 40's and then get progressively worse for the next 10 to 15years. The best time for Laser Treatment is when the deterioration has slowed down but there may be reasons when it is sensible to do it earlier. For example several professional golfers have had laser treatment as their career is more easily performed without glasses or contact lens. There will be some deterioration after the operation but the effects are usually long lasting.
b) What happens to your eyesight?
Imagine the eye is like a camera where what you see is an image which goes through a lens called the cornea at the front of the eye and projects onto back of the eye where there are billions of photoreceptors which tell the brain what is being received. With age the lens gets more imperfections and the original image is more distorted by the time it reaches the back of the eye.
c) Laser Treatment
Originally the surgical treatment was by Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) where an excimer laser was used to make small incisions around the lens to allow the sides to open out and flatten the centre of the lens. This was usually carried out one eye at a time and vision could disturbed for weeks and there was some pain.
This was followed by Laser Assisted Sita Keratomileaisis or LASIK which is a simple, fast and highly predictable surgical procedure which corrects medium to high levels of near and far sightedness and astigmatism. It is better than the old method and it has a minimal discomfort level and a faster recovery time and both eyes can be done at the same time. The procedure is carried out by sculpting the surface of the lens with the laser to restore it to a level similar to its original status.
The latest procedures vary but basically use a wave guided LASIK after the eye has been profiled in examination by measuring the distortions on a wave of light reflected from the back of the eye through the cornea (lens). These distortions are carefully measured and a profile the imperfections on the lens is made and these are removed by using a special excimer laser that has the ability to correct the eye to a very high standard.
Advantages
Recovery time is less than 24hours and can be a lot quicker.
Pain is minimal
Accuracy is very high
Away from work for one day
Minimal pain for only 4 to 6 hours
Disadvantages
It is not for every eye
Eye wear continues with age and further correction may be required later.
If you found this information useful please help this site to keep going by making a small donation, Many thanks
