What Is Lasik Surgery?Lasik Surgery is an alternative for people who need the assistance of eye glasses or contacts to see clearly and has. Having surgery on the eye with a laser may seem a little frightening but this procedure is safe and has a quick recovery time. The Lasik surgery technique was started by Spanish ophthalmologist Jose Barraquer. During the early 1960's he developed the first surgical laser. He discovered that it could be used to cut thin flaps in the cornea and alter its shapeto reduce the need for eye glasses. In 1980 the technique was improved upon when a researcher found that ultra violet light could make more precise bladeless incisions than the first developed green light laser . The new ultra violet light was found to be more reliable and produce less complications. In 1990 the Lasik surgery technique came to full fruition when the two previous techniques were combined. Todays lasers are much faster and guided techniques have made the surgery very safe. Lasik surgery is done with the patient fully awake, however sometimes a small dose of a drug to relax the patient is given. A corneal suction ring is placed to make the eye immobile .A small flap is then cut in the corneal tissue and this sometimes causes small blood vessels to burst. This is a harmless side effect and the blood vessels heal themselves within the first few weeks after surgery. A hinged piece of tissue is created so that it may be folded back to reveal the middle area of the cornea. This part of the procedure may be a little uncomfortable. The middle are of the cornea or the stroma is then reshaped using an excimer laser. This type of laser does not cut or burn but vaporizes tissue in a precisely controlled manner without damaging surrounding tissue. During this stage of the procedure vision will become very blurry and this may be disorienting. The new lasers of today make this step of the procedure very safe as they track the patient's eye movement up to 4,000 times per second. This allows the surgeon to make very precise adjustments to inner part of the cornea. Once the adjustments to the stroma are complete the next step in LASIK surgery is to carefully close the flap that was made. The eye surgeon will check that it has a proper fit and is free of bubbles or debris. This flap reattaches itself during the healing process. The patient is usually given antibiotics, anti-inflammatory eye drops, shields (to prevent damage to the eye while asleep by rubbing) and dark glasses after Lasik surgery. Once healed, in the weeks following the surgery, all of these measures are removed. Lasik surgery has satisfied patient numbers ranging from 92-98%, healing time is minimal and the procedure is safer today than at any other time. |