Pairing Lasik And Astigmatism

The use of Laisk eye surgery to correct astigmatism and reduce or eliminate the need for eyeglasses or contacts has grown in popularity due to advances in the technique.

Astigmatism is caused by a misshaped cornea and can result in nearsightedness or farsightedness. Near sightedness is when you don't see well at far distances and the opposite is farsightedness when you don't see well close up. Symptoms of astigmatism, if it is mild, can cause just slightly blurred vision. When astigmatism goes uncorrected or is a more sever case it can give you headaches, cause eyestrain, and distort or blur your vision either close up or far away. Astigmatism, for many years was best treated with prescription eyeglasses as contact lenses could slip and cause blurred vision due to the offset of the prescription because of poor positioning.

Usually astigmatism is inherited. People with astigmatism are born with an oblong cornea, and the resulting vision problem usually gets worse over time. However, astigmatism may also result from an eye injury that has caused scarring on the cornea or from different types of eye surgery, and from diseases that causes a gradual thinning of the cornea.

Today pairing Lasik and astigmatism seems to be the preferred choice even if a patient had been previously told that laser eye surgery could not be done. New techniques in the treatment of astigmatism with Lasik and Custom Lasik have now made this possible. There are different forms of astigmatism correction through different refractive eye surgery techniques however the most popular seem to be Lasik and Custom Lasik for this condition as recovery time is less than with traditional PRK surgery.

LASIK, short for "Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis," can now be implemented for astigmatism treatment. The Lasik procedure to correct astigmatism uses a cold-beam excimer laser to reshape the cornea so it sends light properly to the retina. The LASIK procedure involves cutting (with the laser and not a scalpel) a small flap in the cornea and moving it out of the way and then reshaping the underlying tissue. Lasik and astigmatism treatment allows the cornea to heal quickly, and many patients will have more clear vision within the first day of recovery. Because the use of Lasik to treat astigmatism has a short recovery time, is an outpatient procedure, and usually takes only 10-15 minutes to complete, LASIK is the most frequently performed of all refractive surgeries.

Another innovation in Lasik and astigmatism treatment is custom LASIK surgery, or Wavefront LASIK. This procedure takes three-dimensional measurements of how your eyes process images, stores the data and then usese that information to guide the laser during surgery. This method is much more accurate than traditional LASIK and is preferred over glasses or contacts by many patients.

Whether or not a patient is a good candidate for the use of the Lasik procedure to treat astigmatism can be determined by a qualified eye surgeon and the risks and benefits should be discussed.