Lasik Eye Surgery



Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis, or the Lasik eye surgery is the most well known surgical way of correcting vision. The lasik eye surgery permanently corrects vision by removing a thin layer of the cornea. The lasik eye surgery is indicated for the patients with moderate to high degrees of myopia, low to moderate degrees of hyperopia and astigmatism associated with myopia, and who have thick corneas.

The lasik eye surgery involves a few risks the have to be taken into consideration.

There is a small chance of losing vision, which usually occurs if patients had a pre-existing condition which should have averted the eye surgery in the first place, such as cataracts, diabetes, pregnancy, glaucoma, lupus or arthritis. Also, the lasik eye surgery is not recommended for persons with large pupils. Dry eye syndrome will be worsen by the lasik eye surgery.

There were signalized a few side effects of the lasik eye surgery. There were patients who complained that they see "ghosts" images, have confused vision, bad night vision and reduced contrasts. The improvements in the lasik eye surgery have decreased the rate of post-operative complaints at less than 1%. Anyway, if any problems appear after the lasik eye surgery , they can frequently be resolved by a re treatment.

Intacs

Intacs are not as well known as lasik eye surgery but they can correct vision in persons with mild to moderate myopia without involving the risk of permanent eye damage. Intacs are semi-circular disks implanted in the cornea which stretch it to assume a flatter shape. If the patient who chooses this kind of eye surgery has an unexpected over- or under-correction, the implant can be removed and replaced by a proper one. This type of eye surgery is inappropriate for grave myopia and more than minor astigmatism(1.00 diopters).

Implants

Intraocular lens implants (IOL) are a new type of eye surgery approved by the FDA in 2004, which can correct moderate to severe myopia, and are appropriate only for patients who have 2.5 diopters or less of astigmatism.

Through this type of eye surgery an artificial lens is inserted in front of the natural lens. The main secondary effect of this eye surgery is the constant loss of endothelial cells of 1.8 % a year in the corneas of patients who received the implants. Some severe complications of this type of eye surgery were: retinal detachment (0.6%), cataract development (0.6%), and corneal swelling (0.4%). Even if the implant can be removed, vision may not always return to what it was prior getting the lens.