Laser Eye Surgery Review

Laser eye surgery review articles range from the very positive with spectacular results to the not so positive with horror stories. Research and a skilled eye profession/al can help a patient sift through all of the Laser eye surgery review articles.

Laser eye surgery is a surgical procedure intended to reduce a person's dependency on glasses and/or contact lenses. Lasik, which is a form of Laser eye surgery, stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis and is a procedure that permanently changes the shape of the cornea. The cornea is the clear covering (lens) of the front of the eye that covers the retina.

The cornea (lens) is a part of the eye that helps focus light and 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 of light is also known as light refraction. Most of the time the shape of the cornea and the eye are not perfect and the image on the retina will be out-of-focus (blurred) or distorted. These errors in the focusing power of the eye are called refractive errors.

Laser eye surgery review articles state that in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the sale of medical devices such as the lasers used for the Lasik procedure. Before a medical device can be legally sold in the U.S., the person or company that wants to sell the device must seek approval from the FDA. Laser eye surgery review articles also state that in order to gain approval, they must present evidence that the device is reasonably safe and effective for a particular use. Once the FDA has approved a medical device, a doctor may decide to use that device for other indications if the doctor feels it is in the best interest of a patient. However Laser eye surgery review articles also state that the FDA does not regulate the practice of medicine.

Laser eye surgery review articles go on to say that he FDA does not have the authority to:

a) Regulate a doctor's practice. In other words, FDA cannot tell doctors what to do when running their business or what they can or cannot tell their patients.
b) Set the amount a doctor can charge for Laser eye surgery.
c) Make recommendations for individual doctors, clinics, or eye centers. The FDA does not maintain nor have access to any such list of doctors performing Laser eye surgery.
d) Conduct or provide a rating system on any medical device it regulates.

Regulations for equipment used for Laser eye surgery are in effect however Laser eye surgery review articles make it very clear that all options, risks and benefits should be thoroughly investigated as well as the credentials of the surgeon and his facility.