Today lasik surgery is huge and its popularity is increasing by the day. As interest grows there is a whole host of websites spreading information about the surgery. While most of them are pretty reliable, yet there can be an overflow of information for you. In this article we are trying to convey to you, the basic things that you should look for before a operation.

The Surgeon

The first thing that you should look for in your surgeon is the experience he carries. There are a lot of practitioners today but you should trust your eyes only with the best with a proven track record of successful operations over a significant period of time. Experience not only enhances their skill but also makes them better equipped to tackle complications. The best way to know how experienced a surgeon is to find out how many similar operations he has performed. If he is close to 500 eye surgeries, then you should feel quite confident in his hands.

The Technology

Are all operation machines safe? Well, the ones approved by FDA are. You got to know which are the various types of this machines that have been approved by FDA. There's a whole host of them. Of them three companies dominate a large part of the market. They are alcon, bausch & lomb, and visx. Another major player in the eye market is nidek, but their wavefront technology which helps the operation machine to ma the eye is yet to be approved by the FDA.

Your Eligibility for the Surgery

First of all you have to be over 18 years in age. Many doctors would even want their patients to be at least 21. They wait to be sure that your eyes don't get rid of the complications with time. If you are into serious physical activity and it is part of your career, then also eye operation is not an option for you.

Even pregnancy would stop you from having the lasik operation done. There are hormonal imbalances during pregnancy and this might lead to skewed results after the operation.

Your eligibility will be nullified if you are suffering from any of the conditions like diabetes, glaucoma, rheumatoid arthritis, herpes infection of the eye or lupus. Make sure you do the necessary examinations before committing yourself to the surgery.

The eye and vision errors

The cornea is a part of the eye that helps focus light to create an image on the retina. It works in much the same way that the lens of a camera focuses light to create an image on film. The bending and focusing of light is also known as refraction. Usually the shape of the cornea and the eye are not perfect and the image on the retina is out-of-focus (blurred) or distorted. These imperfections in the focusing power of the eye are called refractive errors.

There are three primary types of refractive errors: myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. Persons with myopia, or nearsightedness, have more difficulty seeing distant objects as clearly as near objects. Persons with hyperopia, or farsightedness, have more difficulty seeing near objects as clearly as distant objects. Astigmatism is a distortion of the image on the retina caused by irregularities in the cornea or lens of the eye.

Combinations of myopia and astigmatism or hyperopia and astigmatism are common. Glasses or contact lenses are designed to compensate for the eye's imperfections. Surgical procedures aimed at improving the focusing power of the eye are called refractive surgery. In eye surgery, precise and controlled removal of corneal tissue by a special laser reshapes the cornea changing its focusing power.