The Lasik Procedure

Lasik eye surgery is a swift procedure which can help nearsighted people, farsighted people, and those with astigmatism. It takes just a few minutes. Here is an overview of the procedure.

Before Surgery

The first step is for the physician to examine your eyes to determine their health and determine if Lasik is possible. The ophthalmologist uses a refractor, a slit lamp, to check for retinal problems, and a tonometer to determine the intraocular pressure. If this pressure is high, then this is an early sign of glaucoma. He will also check for the hydration of the eye, to make sure there is no dry eye disease. If he finds signs of the disease, he should treat it before the Lasik is performed.

He then uses a corneal topographer to photograph the eye and creates a map of the cornea. Nobody has a perfectly rounded cornea; the topographer here will display the corneal irregularities - the steepness or flatness which the surgeon must correct during the surgery.

New tools for this step include wave front devices. These send waves through the eye to provide a more precise map of the corneal irregularities that affect  vision.

The surgeon will ask about your general health. Having specific health problems or being on medications may affect the surgery or pose risks.You should be frank with your doctor about this. After the examination, he will inform you as to whether it is OK to undergo this operation.

The Lasik Procedure

A microkeratome creates a very thin circular flap in the cornea. A more modern technique called Intralasik uses a special laser called Intralase to do this. Next the surgeon folds the flap back and removes some tissues of the cornea underneath this flap with an excimer laser. This excimer laser is a cool ultraviolet light beam, which removes very thin layer of the corneal tissue to reshape the cornea. The amount to be removed from the cornea is predetermined by computer. It depends on the required focus of the light through the eye and onto the retina to achieve the required vision.

Finally the surgeon flips the flap back to its previous place covering the area of the removed layers of corneal tissue. For nearsighted people the target is to flatten the too-steep cornea, while for the farsighted people the target is to steepen the cornea. To correct astigmatism, the surgeon smoothens the irregular cornea into a normal shape.

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