LASIK is a simple procedure that allows the surgeon to correct visual errors in only a short period of time, usually a few minutes.

When you decide to have the surgery you´ll have to be very careful when choosing the doctor because its level of expertise is vital for you. Everything will last only half an hour and you´ll only feel a brighter discomfort that will disappear right away.

After the procedure you will be able to use your visual function without any problems.
The procedure is pretty much standard but in some cases there might be some complications and risks involved. That´s why the pre-op evaluation is important because your doctor will answer all your questions and together you´ll decide which the best option for you is.

That´s why before visiting the doctor you might want to do a research so that you´ll know what to ask.

Also, you must make sure that the doctor is licensed for this type of surgery and that its certifications are in order.

As I said before, the surgeon is the most important factor and that´s why you should ask him how many procedures he completed and what were the results. The references are very important and you shouldn´t be ashamed to ask all these details.

You can also ask for references from a former patient because like that you can find out many important things that will influence your decision one way or another.

Honesty is very important in the doctor-patient relationship and that´s why you must receive a true answer when you ask about bonuses offered by the Lasik equipment manufacturer. Sometimes the doctors use their number of patients to gain bonuses and that´s not necessarily a good thing.

A large number of procedures will keep him from being very accurate with every single patient. Remember: your eyes are not a play toy.

You should take into consideration experience, certifications, training, price and the comfort level offered to you by the centre before deciding for a doctor in your area.
Good luck in finding a great surgeon that will solve all your eye-related problems.

If you live in colorado, learn where to find the best colorado lasik surgeon. Also learn more about lasik plus vision centers all across the country.

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What Not To Do  After LASIK Eye Surgery

LASIK eye surgery is probably the safest, quickest and easiest way to improve your vision. The healing process happens quickly and for most patients, the process is uneventful. However, in spite of all the cards being stacked in your favor, it is important that you follow the recovery procedure your doctor has outlined for you in order to insure a speedy recovery without any complications.

First and foremost, you’ll need to apply the medications prescribed by your doctor according to the established schedule. In most cases, you’ll have a steroid based medication that you’ll apply quite frequently during the first four hours after LASIK eye surgery. Also, you may have antibiotic eye drops that will help prevent any infection. Be sure to adhere to the schedule with these medications, especially during the first four hours.

After the first four hours, you’ll still use these same medications, but the frequency will be reduced to one every six hours.

You should also have a supply of artificial tears to provide lubrication to your eye. Use these drops according to the established schedule and also at anytime your eyes feel dry. Keeping your eyes moist greatly enhances the healing process, so don’t skimp on the artificial tears.

As you start to get back into your normal daily activities, there are certain things you’ll need to avoid -

- Don’t get involved in any activities that could result in an object coming into contact with your eyes.
- When you shower, don’t allow the water stream to hit your eyes.
- Don’t get soap or shampoo in your eyes.
- Don’t get dust or pet hair in your eyes.
- Don’t rub your eyes.
- Don’t go out in bright sunlight without sun glasses.
- Don’t let your eyes get too dry - use the artificial tears as often as needed.
- Don’t rub your eyes while you’re sleeping - a special mask, provided by your doctor will protect your eyes while sleeping.

It is absolutely imperative that you faithfully follow your doctor’s schedule for medications, especially during the first week after your procedure. You’ve probably been given a steroid based medication to promote quick healing, so be sure to use it. Also, you may have been prescribed antibiotic eye drops to prevent an infection, so be sure to use them as recommended.

Your eyes are important and you’ll want to protect them thru the healing process. Be absolutely sure to follow your doctor’s instructions and you should have a quick, successful recovery!

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LASIK Monocular Vision Correction

For the last several years, doctors have been hesitant to recommend LASIK eye surgery for patients who were farsighted.

Such patients could see clearly at a distance, but had trouble focusing on close up objects. This is a common problem for many people as they age and usually starts showing symptoms in the early to late 40s. The first sign of becoming farsighted is that these people have to hold reading material farther and farther away in order to be able to focus clearly. Eventually, they find that their arms are no longer lengthy enough to achieve proper focus.

LASIK eye surgery can resolve the problem of being farsighted, but at the expense of losing distance focusing. A typical farsighted person can see distant objects with no problem, but while LASIK surgery can solve the close focusing problem, the distance focusing is sacrificed in the process. Most people would consider this as just trading one problem for another.

However, research has shown that there is a way that LASIK eye surgery can help patients that suffer from farsightedness. It seems that the brain possesses powerful capabilities when processing images. The LASIK solution for farsightedness is to perform the procedure on one eye only, hence the name ‘monocular’.

An eye exam is used to determine which eye is best suited for distance viewing and that eye remains unaltered. The other eye undergoes the LASIK procedure and is then optimized for close object focusing. When the patient views an object, whether it’s near or far away, the brain accepts images from both eyes and merges the images thru complex processing. In essence, one eye focuses on far away objects and the other eye focuses on close up objects. The brain uses both images and the end result is that patients can now see close up and far away - problem solved!

If you’re at the age where you’ve just begun to notice your farsightedness, it may be best to wait a couple of years before having the LASIK eye surgery. The reasoning is that during the initial onset of farsightedness, your eyes tend to change frequently, so if you have the procedure done too early, your changing eyes could negate the results in a year or two, so you may need to have the procedure repeated. If you wait until your eyes stabilize, or at least the changing process slows, you’re likely to realize longer lasting results.

Many LASIK surgery doctors have been offering an option when you elect to have the procedure - for a fairly small extra fee, they’ll provide you with lifetime repeat procedures for free if they’re ever needed. This way, if your eyes do change as you age, you can have the LASIK procedure repeated at no additional cost. This can be a wise investment if you’re in the 40 to 50 age group.

If you have the monocular vision correction procedure, you’ll find that it does take a little getting used to. After all, your eyes have been providing very similar signals to your brain for a long time. Now that each eye focuses differently, your brain has to adapt and process the different images into a single view.

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Are There Risks Associated With LASIK Eye Surgery

Refractive surgery (LASIK) often produces amazing results, however, as with any medical procedure, there are risks involved. If you’re considering LASIK, it’s important that you are aware of the limitations and possible complications that may arise.

According to FDA reports, nearly 100% of LASIK patients have good results and no complications, but you need to be aware that there are things that can and do go wrong. Some problems include double or triple vision, light distortion so severe that patients can’t drive at night, or eyes so dry that they have to wear goggles when going outside.

Some patients experience infections, inflammation of the eye, redness, blurriness or eye irritation. In many cases, LASIK eye surgery can eliminate your need for corrective lenses, but that’s not always the result. Sometimes, LASIK will drastically reduce your dependence on corrective lenses, but you may still require corrective lenses for some activities, such as reading. It’s best to think of LASIK as reducing your dependency upon corrective lenses - not necessarily as eliminating your need for them.

Diffuse lamellar keratitis is a post operative LASIK risk that happens when a foreign substance, such as a hair or speck of dirt gets trapped behind the corneal flap. If this happens to you, you may experience pain, light sensitivity, blurred vision, along with the sensation that something is trapped in your eye. Rubbing will only intensify the problem and may lead to further complications, such as infection or tearing or dislodging of the corneal flap. Diffuse lamellar keratitis usually occurs as the result of the patient not exercising proper precautions during the healing period after LASIK eye surgery.

One of the most common complications of LASIK eye surgery is a slipped flap. The flap that was created during the LASIK procedure may become detached from the rest of the cornea. Most doctors recommend that you go home and sleep for several hours after completing the LASIK procedure in order to allow the cornea to start its healing process. That’s good advice and can substantially reduce your chances of experiencing a slipped flap.

Even without LASIK eye surgery, it’s expected that everyone’s eyes will change slightly with the passage of time - it’s just a natural part of life. After LASIK, your eyes will still follow their natural course of changing with time, so LASIK shouldn’t necessarily be considered a permanent solution. For most people however, their vision will not change enough to require any additional treatments, especially when the original procedure was done to correct for poor distant vision.

The information provided here is not intended to scare you away from LASIK eye surgery, since it has been a blessing to a great many people. For many who have chosen LASIK, it has meant that they are no longer dependent on corrective lenses in order to have good vision. It’s highly recommended that you talk with your doctor about LASIK and how any possible risks or side effects relate to your own personal circumstances.

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Why Are People Raving About LASIK Eye Surgery

LASIK eye surgery can perform miracles - it can give you relief from wearing corrective lenses. It can cure nearsightedness, astigmatism and farsightedness. The procedure is quick and painless, offering almost immediate results. And due to advances in technology and the wide demand for this type of service, LASIK is quite economical.

LASIK eye surgery is now so common that millions of people have decided that it was time to abandon their corrective lenses, once and for all. There are so many LASIK clinics that you’re likely to find one close by, no matter where you live.

With LASIK vision correction procedures, most patients experience new, clear vision that’s potentially near perfect.

There are a great many benefits to LASIK eye surgery -

1) Clear vision
2) Eliminate the need for corrective lenses
3) Easier participation if recreational activities
4) Better vision than when using corrective lenses
5) Boost in self-confidence
6) More career opportunities likely to be available
7) Your appearance will be enhanced
Eliminate infection risks associated with contact lenses
9) Procedure is quick and painless
10) Healing process happens fast
11) No more contact lens discomfort
12) Pass your driver’s license test without glasses
13) Glasses restriction removed from driver’s license
14) Newest technology precisely maps eye contour for near perfect results
15) Overall vision, including peripheral vision improves
16) Quick, almost immediate results
17) Solves most vision problems - nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism

LASIK eye surgery has become more affordable in recent times. The technology has made significant improvements and the process is essentially automated to a large extent. The more progressive LASIK eye surgery centers invest heavily in the latest technology, automating not only the actual LASIK procedure, but also the data gathering process that happens first, during your evaluation. You eyes are examined by a computer and precise contour data is recorded. This data is then used during the surgery procedure to make sure that your resulting vision will be as close to perfection as possible.

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Are Implantable Contact Lens An Alternative to LASIK Eye Surgery?

Not everyone is a good candidate for LASIK eye surgery. But what if you still want to improve your vision while reducing or eliminating the need for glasses or contacts?

A popular alternative to LASIK eye surgery is ICL, or Implantable Contact Lens, also sometimes referred to as a permanent contact lens. An ICL is a soft lens that is attached to the eye for correcting nearsightedness. An Implanted Contact Lens is intended to be permanent, but it can be replaced if changes are needed in the future. Unlike LASIK eye surgery, the ICL procedure is completely reversible.

There are certain advantages to ICL over LASIK. For example, with LASIK, permanent changes are made to your eye and those changes are something you’ll have to live with. If the LASIK procedure worked out you’re OK, but if it didn’t, you’re stuck with it. In stark contrast, Implantable Contact Lenses can be changed out at any time if corrections are needed.

If you’ve previously worn contact lenses, you already know the hassles of normal contacts - cleaning, soaking, removing and replacing, etc. But with implantable contact lenses, all those frustrations immediately disappear. The implants are permanent and should never require any attention unless your vision changes as you age. Implantable contact lenses provide the same vision improvements as normal temporary contact lenses, but they require none of the attention and maintenance of normal contact lenses.

The ICL procedure is usually done on an outpatient basis and you’ll experience little or no pain. A mild sedative is administered to provide a calming effect and a 1/8 inch incision is made for insertion of the lens. Once inserted, the lens is properly positioned. In almost all cases, sutures are not required to close the incision point. If you’re having the procedure performed on both eyes, they’ll both be completed in a single session. The entire procedure is usually completed within about 30 minutes.

Upon completion of the ICL procedure, you’ll be sent to a ‘post-op’ area for recovery. Once staff members determine that you’re stable, you’ll be sent home to relax for the remainder of the day. You’ll need to return the next day for a follow-up exam, just to make sure that everything is OK.

There may be some mild haziness upon completion of the implantation, but this usually clears itself within a short period of time. Most patients see quick improvements in vision, with about 90% of normal vision restored within the first 24 hours. Normally, your vision on the second day will be good enough to allow you to drive yourself to the examination.

The main issue of concern with implantable contact lenses is the risk of infection. Infection is a serious condition that can result in the loss of vision, so your doctor will take the necessary precautions while performing the procedure.

Implantable contact lenses are a reasonable alternative to LASIK eye surgery for patients who have trouble seeing at a distance. However, ICL does not help you if you need reading glasses.

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Lasik Eye Surgery Explained.

Lasik eye surgery is a procedure that can correct your vision by altering the physical properties of your eye. Unlike traditional surgical procedures that depend upon the skills and steadiness of the surgeon’s hand, LASIK eye surgery is computer controlled.

The more progressive LASIK surgery centers perform in-depth analysis of your eyes as an evaluation procedure to determine if you’re a good candidate for the LASIK procedure. The evaluation process, which is largely controlled by computer itself, maps the overall physical makeup of each eye. A traditional eye exam determines your visual abilities and then an exhaustive computer analysis determines if your eyes can be enhanced by the LASIK procedure.

In addition to determining whether or not you’re a good candidate for LASIK, the procedure also records quite a bit of data that’s specific to your eyes. If you choose to proceed with the LASIK eye surgery, this data is used to program the computer controlled LASIK equipment to insure that your eyes are modified exactly in the proper manner so as to provide maximum benefit.

How Your Eyes Work

The cornea of the eye is responsible for projecting light onto the retina in order to produce an image. When the cornea is not shaped properly, distortion of the image will occur. This is called a refractive error. LASIK eye surgery can correct refractive errors.

There are three primary types of refractive errors -

1) Myopia is a refractive error in which a person has trouble seeing things at a distance, but they can see things that are close up.

2) Hyperopia is when a person will be able to see things clearly at a distance but cannot see things that are close to them.

3) Astigmatism is the distortion of images caused by irregularities in the shape of the cornea.

LASIK eye surgery is also called refractive surgery because it will reshape the cornea, therefore improving the ability to focus clearly.

Not everyone is a good candidate for LASIK eye surgery. To be a good candidate for LASIK eye surgery, you have to be willing to accepts the risks that go along with this type of surgery. Your eyesight should be stable, meaning that it hasn’t changed appreciably over the past several years. Also, you shouldn’t have any existing health conditions that would put you at risk while having LASIK eye surgery.

Risks of LASIK Eye Surgery

LASIK eye surgery does carry some risks, such as loss of vision. In some extremely rare cases, the patient may lose vision due to equipment malfunction, scarring or healing related complications.

One common risk of LASIK eye surgery is that any dry eye condition that is experienced right after surgery may hamper the healing process. Signs of dryness are burning, redness and decreased vision. If this dry eye condition persists, you may have to medicate to improve tear duct function and use artificial tears to maintain the proper level of moisture. You must keep your eyes moist after LASIK surgery in order to promote healing.

Things to do Before LASIK Surgery

If you wear contact lenses, either soft contacts or rigid contacts, you should stop wearing your contacts at least three weeks before your initial evaluation by the doctor. On the day of surgery, you shouldn’t wear makeup or perfumes. Also, don’t wear any fuzzy clothing that is likely to disperse lint.

Make sure that someone goes with you on the day of surgery, since you’ll need someone to drive you home after the LASIK procedure. Before the surgery, the doctor may give you medicine to relax you and your vision may be a little blurry immediately following surgery. Also, special eye drops are administered prior to the procedure which can cause additional, but temporary blurriness.

LASIK eye surgery is relatively safe and it can free you from glasses and contacts. Before you commit to LASIK surgery, make sure that you consider all the advantages and disadvantages of having the procedure. Ask the doctor lots of questions so that you can make an informed decision about whether LASIK eye surgery is the right choice for you.

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Lasik Eye Surgery Patients, the success rates

The Lasik operation can be a wonderful, life-changing option for many people whose vision is less than perfect.  There are several different types of Lasik operations now available, from the original and well documented procedure to Lasik procedures done with three dimensional wavefronts, or done entirely with lasers.  Each of these variations of the Lasik procedure should be discussed with the physician that is to perform the operation.
Like any surgery, Lasik does have the potential for side effects.

Sometimes reading the horror stories of the outcomes of a Lasik procedure can deter people from seriously considering such a choice.  It is also true that the vast numbers of people who have a successful, trouble-free Lasik surgery tend not to report a long and detailed story of their experience, unlike those that have experienced trouble afterward.

However, it is good to know what the possible side effects of the Lasik procedure are, and also the likelihood that one of these side effects will occur for a particular patient.  Just like any medicine we take, each has a possible number of side effects, but we generally assume that the likelihood of a serious side effect is small, and we take the medicine anyway.  This article will hopefully put concerns of the prospective Lasik patient into perspective so that they can calmly and thoughtfully ponder having a Lasik procedure done in the future.

More than one million Lasik eye surgery procedures are done in the US every year, according to the FDA.  This arm of the national government has accumulated the following statistics for the most common side effects of the Lasik procedure.  These statistics will also vary by the physician performing the surgery, so make sure to get as much information on the prospective Lasik physician as possible.

After Lasik surgery, 1.7 percent of patients experience some glare or sensitivity to light after the operation.   This varies by patient, but this sensitivity is especially noticeable when looking at a bright light, such as a streetlight when walking at night, or other strong light and dark contrast.  Another light related side effect is a halo around a light, and this occurs in 3.5 percent of Lasik patients.

The new, corrected vision can be noticed quickly by some Lasik patients, in as little as a few hours after surgery.  Most patients that have undergone the Lasik procedure find the change is permanent within a few days.  In 2.6 percent of clients that have had a Lasik procedure done, there is persistent visual fluctuation within at least a part of their sphere of vision.

Finally, some patients do not get a fully corrected sphere of vision after their Lasik procedure.  This happens with a small number of clients, and the FDA statistics are that only 3 percent of patients have this effect.  In all or nearly all cases, the physician in charge will perform an additional Lasik procedure to improve this.

This detailing of the major permanent side effects of the Lasik eye surgery procedure should put any personal horror stories into perspective.  Notice that none of the percentages are above 3 percent, and this should bring comfort to most prospective Lasik clients.  However, it should also motivate them to look carefully at the Lasik physician’s personal record.

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Pros and Cons for Lasik with IntraLase

Those who have had a Lasik eye surgery technique done, and those who are investigating having a Lasik vision correction procedure, know that the first step of that procedure is to create a small flap in order for the Lasik physician to reshape the cornea.  This flap is created by the surgeon, and can be done using a small blade or using a laser.  Using the laser is generally called a bladeless Lasik procedure, or IntraLasik, or IntraLase.

For those that are considering a Lasik procedure, this review should be helpful in order to determine the pros and cons of the Lasik procedure using IntraLase.  One comment to be made is that the risks and complications possible using the small blade are well known and documented, since that procedure has been done for years and has a database of millions of patients.

Granted, 90% or more of all Lasik patients have no serious side effects or even minor lasting side effects, but it is true that a large part of the complications from Lasik procedures stem from the flap made with the microkeratome blade.  Over the years additional techniques have been developed to further minimize such problems from the standard Lasik procedure.

The introduction of the laser to create the flap is a new frontier in the Lasik procedure.  The laser is used in combination with state of the art software to create a flap of a pre-programmed size at a specific depth and position.  During this process, a soft suction ring holds the eye in place, but this causes no discomfort to the Lasik client.  Generally the only effect noticed by most Lasik patients is a dimming of vision in the eye being worked on for the duration of the treatment of that eye.

The use of the laser creates very small bubbles of water and carbon dioxide that serve as a good buffer between the flap and the cornea itself, and so this Lasik procedure conserves the eye very carefully.  The whole process of creating a flap for one eye takes approximately one minute.

The advantages of using a laser to make the flap for the Lasik vision correction procedure is that there is no way that the cornea can be abraded, nor any chance of the wrong size or depth of flap, since it is all pre-programmed with Lasik software.  The exact vertical edges of the flap produced using this Lasik procedure help healing, and also decrease the possibility that the flap might slip or wrinkle if the eye is accidentally bumped or rubbed during the healing process.

There are very few cons to using a laser to create the flap during a Lasik procedure.  One is that the process takes a bit longer, up to a minute.  A second reason is that the low level suction during this phase of the Lasik operation does result in eye redness for about 5% of the patients, but this goes away within a few days.  The last reason is that there is still a difference in cost between intralase eye surgery and the traditional Lasik eye surgery, but hopefully that will decrease as the years progress.

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Questions about Lasik eye surgery

Many people that wear glasses or contact lenses have listened to the claims of how Lasik can give them perfect vision.  They have also heard great Lasik success stories, as well as stories from people that were not sure they had given the decision enough thought.  This guide lists the most common questions asked by people who are considering Lasik vision correction, and answers given by reputable physicians.

The first and most important question asked about Lasik is, not surprisingly, “Is Lasik safe?”  The answer is that it is normally quite a safe procedure, with success rates above 95 percent for good, experienced Lasik surgeons, and 90 percent average over all physicians that perform the Lasik procedure.  This statistic about Lasik success assumes that the patient is a good candidate for Lasik surgery.  The requirements have some specific details and should be gone over with the physician that will perform the Lasik procedure.

It is a very good idea to ask the Lasik physician which patients he has declined to perform the Lasik procedure on, to make sure that the particular physician has and operates with good standards.  Any Lasik practitioner that tries to imply that everyone that comes in to his office is a good candidate for Lasik vision correction should be viewed with some skepticism.  In any case, it is wise to interview several different physicians that perform the Lasik procedure before deciding on one.

A second frequently asked question about Lasik is “What are the possible complications from Lasik surgery?”  Common side effects are starbursts or halos when looking at a light, sensitivity to light and difficulty with glare and night vision, and some sensation that a foreign body is in the eye.  Most of these effects will pass within a few days after the Lasik procedure.  Between 1 and 3 percent of patients will have a lasting side effect such as halos or some vision fluctuation.

It is a very good idea to discuss your particular situation with the Lasik physician to determine if you might be prone to any complications.  There are also variants of the standard Lasik procedure, one of which uses additional waveforms to map out an individual eye, or techniques that only use lasers rather than a scalpel and a laser.

One question we all hesitate to ask is “Will the Lasik procedure be painful?”  Since our eyes are one of the most sensitive parts of our bodies, it is comforting to know that having Lasik vision correction is usually nearly painless.  There is often some mild discomfort after the procedure, but this is effectively controlled with medication.

“Will I have 20/20 vision once the Lasik correction is done?”  Though many patients do get nearly perfect vision, not all patients have their vision totally corrected.  You can definitely expect to have improved vision and minimized dependency on any glasses or contacts.

“What is the cost and how do I pay?”  A typical Lasik eye surgeon charges between $500 and $2500 per eye, depending on the patient and the surgeon.  However, a Lasik physician should be selected on experience level and track record, not on the lowest price.  Insurance rarely covers the cost of Lasik, but many Lasik centers have a type of financing program offered to their clients.

Consider Lasik eye surgery as one way to significantly improve the quality of your life.

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