What is Lasik?

Imperfect vision affects an astonishing number of people throughout the world. It’s true that most of those people are in countries where vision care is not readily available, but if you’re reading this, chances are vision care is common where you are.

We have all weighed the advantages and disadvantages of all different forms of vision correction—glasses, contacts and LASIK or laser eye surgery, but how much do we really know about LASIK? What exactly is LASIK? Most people know that a laser is used to correct your vision, but how does it work? What does LASIK correct?

First off, LASIK eye surgery is a general name that is used for many types of laser assisted corrective eye surgeries. There are different types of laser eye surgery for different types of eyes. LASIK can be used to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and other common vision problems.

These other types of laser eye surgery are complicated in name and really don’t matter much to the consumer, as they just differentiate between the differences in procedure or the different lasers used. If you talk to your doctor about receiving LASIK and are more interested in the specifics of your procedure, he or she will gladly supply you with specific information.

Essentially what happens during LASIK surgery is the reshaping of the cornea in order to allow light to better enter your eye and provide clearer vision. Basically, vision is based on light. The way your eyes are shaped determines how light will enter your eye. Of course, not everyone’s eyes are shaped the same way, and that is the reason that LASIK works so well for so many people. Simple reshaping of the eye can dramatically improve your vision.

The process by which your doctor does this procedure is quite simple, usually quick and virtually painless. First, the surgeon cuts a small circular flap in your cornea and folds it so that he or she can begin the process. Then, the surgeon will use what is called an “excimer” laser to remove extremely small bits of tissue from your cornea to reshape your eye.

The whole process is painless due to anesthesia. After the surgery is complete, the surgeon lays the flap back over your cornea in order for your eye to heal more quickly. You may be wondering if LASIK surgery is for you. What does it fix? Well, LASIK has been known to fix farsightedness, nearsightedness and sometimes astigmatism. Those people that have vision bad enough to require glasses or contacts regularly are largely those that are good candidates for LASIK.

Typically the very young are not candidates for LASIK due to the fact that their eyes are still growing and changing; vision may fluctuate as growth occurs. Talking to your doctor is the only way to correctly determine if you are a good candidate for LASIK surgery. Laser eye surgery is a fantastic new addition to vision correction technology but can definitely be confusing without talking to your doctor.

Don’t rule yourself out as a candidate without first talking to your eye care specialist who will give you important information on preparation, procedure and recovery should you be a good candidate for LASIK.

Find a LASIK Eye Surgeon in your area.