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Lasik Eye Surgery

What is popularly referred to as lasik laser eye surgery is technically termed as Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis. It is a type of refractive surgery carried out by ophthalmologists for correcting myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. The surgery is a relatively simple process and is carried out while the patient is awake but a mild sedative and anesthetic eye drops are administered to block out the pain. Lasik eye surgery is performed in the following broad steps

• First an anesthetic drop is administered to the eye and then an instrument called lid speculum is used to keep the eyelids open. Following this a ring is placed on the eye and very high pressure is applied to create suction in the cornea. At this stage the doctor uses a microkeratome to cut a flap in the eye.
• Once the eye is fixed in the correct position the laser is started. The laser will help to vaporize a particular amount of tissue, which is pre-fixed by the surgeon based on initial analysis.
• In the third and final stage the flap is replaced and a shield to guard the eye is put on the patient. The flap is not stitched back so it’s important to protect the eye with the shield.

One of the most important steps to the lasik eye surgery occurs much before the patient is taken to the operation table. The pre-surgical evaluation of the patient’s ophthalmic and medical history is that stage. If you have been traditionally using contact lenses you will need to stay away from them for 2 to 4 weeks prior to this evaluation for it to be accurate. For patients using soft contact lenses the period is of 2 weeks, semi soft it’s 3 and for users of hard lenses it is 4 weeks. Lasik eye surgery as we are aware, changes the shape of the cornea of the eye, so do lenses except in this case they are temporary. It is this temporary distortion of the normal shape of the cornea that needs to be avoided by avoiding the contact lenses. The cornea is what is vaporized during lasik surgery therefore knowing its original shape and size is of utmost importance to the surgeons.

It is always advisable to take someone along to drive to and from the ophthalmic evaluation as well as the lasik eye surgery. This is because some medicines administered by doctors during the evaluation and both before and after the surgery may cause blurred vision. Another important factor to remember is to stop the use of any make up, perfumes, creams or lotions around the eye or on the lashes one day prior to the surgery as they may cause infection after the procedure. Some surgeons also request patients to scrub the eyelashes to remove the debris of these products that might have been used before for lasik eye surgery.

For a normal lasik eye surgery a few days of rest period proves sufficient. Pain killers might need to be taken initially and the protective shield has to be kept on for sometime. Itching, watering of the eye, blurred vision are common occurrences following the surgery but they should improve considerably within the first two days.