Are you one of the millions of people that are contemplating having LASIK eye surgery to correct a vision problem? If so, then you need to be sure that you know how to pick the right surgeon for you and what to expect during your surgery. Knowing what lies ahead of you will make the journey to better eyesight a much smoother road to take.



1- Before you even get to the operating room, you will undergo some tests with an optometrist. These tests are designed to let the surgeon know how much work the cornea needs to have done. These tests will serve two purposes; they will of course assess your eyes and eyesight to see if your particular situation can be fixed.

2- It is important to stop wearing your contacts several weeks before these tests are performed. Contact lenses can temporarily change the shape of the cornea; the doctor will need to see them in their natural state. This will help the doctor to get an accurate measurement of the cornea, therefore an accurate measurement as to how much needs to be removed for the best vision possible.

3- The second reason for the first couple of visits to the doctor is to assess your personal health history, to see if you are a viable candidate for the procedure. The doctor will be looking for things such as a change in eyewear prescriptions with in the past year, a history of Glaucoma, thin corneas and previous eye injuries. These are a few of the possible issues that will keep you from becoming a good candidate for the operation.

4- After you have interviewed possible surgeons and settled on the doctor that you feel the most comfortable with, gone through all of the tests and are deemed as a suitable candidate, it is time for the surgery. When you enter the room for the surgery, you will be instructed to sit in a recliner type chair. This will put you into the correct position for the surgery.

5- The surgeon will be using a large machine that is attached to a microscope, a computer and the laser. You will be given an eye drop that has a numbing agent in it and your eye will be cleaned. After the cleaning your eyelid will be held open by a specialized speculum, this will prevent blinking. A ring will be placed over the cornea, this will be an applied using high pressure to lift the cornea off the eye, this may feel slightly painful.

6- When the cornea is in place, the surgeon then cuts the cornea to permit the laser access to the eye. Now it is time for the laser to do its job, the exact measurements of how much needs to be removed to correctly reshape the eye was programmed into the computer from the tests that were done in the office.

7- The computer stops the laser at the exact time that the right amount of tissue has been removed. That's it; the LASIK eye surgery is complete. The doctor will then put a patch over the eye to protect the cornea during the healing process. Most people are back to work and normal routines with in a couple of days to a week, but your doctor will be able advise you regarding your personal situation.