Would You Benefit from LASIK Eye Surgery?

How does 20/20 vision without having to wear glasses or contact lenses sound? Wouldn't you love being able to enjoy life again without corrective lenses? Well, I have great news! You CAN reclaim your near-perfect vision through a small refractive surgery procedure called LASIK. Here's some more information to help you learn more.

The term LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis. In Situ means "not removed" and keratomileusis refers to the carving of the cornea in order to reshape it. Thus, like the name means, LASIK surgery permanently changes the shape of the cornea, the clear covering of the front of the eye, using a laser.

The procedure is definitely not for the squimish! In the doctor's office, the doc will put eye drops into your eye to numb them up. That way you won't feel anything while he or she is cutting and poking away. Some tape is also used to hold your lashes out of the way. The doc will proceed to put a retainer over your eye so that you can't blink and tell you to focus on a target light.

Now, the surgeon knows exactly what he is going to do before he enters your eye. He has already tuned the laser to the correct amounts of tissue to be removed based on your eye exam prescription numbers. During this procedure, again, you won't see anything out of the ordinary or feel any pain!

A knife-like blade instrument called a microkeratome is used in the LASIK eye surgery to create a thin, circular flap in the cornea. The surgeon will fold the flap back out of the way, then remove some corneal tissue underneath using an excimer laser. As the FDA states, the excimer laser uses a cool ultraviolet light beam to precisely remove very tiny bits of tissue from the cornea. This will reshape it. When the cornea is reshaped in the right way, it works better to focus light into the eye and onto the retina, providing clearer vision than before. The flap is then laid back in place, covering the area where the corneal tissue was removed.

A newer way of making the flap is with a laser. The FDA website describes this procedure as IntraLase. With this, a special laser is used instead of a blade to create the flap. Then the usual excimer laser does the removing of tissue. The flap is then replaced to serve as a natural bandage for healing. In the IntraLase procedure two different lasers are used, which is why it is sometimes promoted as "bladeless" or "all-laser" LASIK.

The entire procedure usually takes between 5 to 10 minutes. Recovery times are quick, typically you are back to normal in 2 or 3 days.

LASIK surgery is usually done for those with low to high nearsightedness (able to see close up but not far away) and low to mild farsightedness (able to see far out, but not things close up). Now, one drawback to this eye correction is that only up to 80% of patients will get 20/20 vision. Others will only benefit from 20/40. However, there is another follow-up surgery that can be done 3 to 4 months after the first LASIK surgery that can help further improve your vision.

To be approved for LASIK surgery, there are some requirements you must meet. First off, you must be an adult - that means at least 18 years old in some places, 21 in other areas. Your eyes must be healthy and your prescription must have remained stable for at least a year. Furthermore, if your body has problems with healing, you may not be able to have LASIK performed. You can find a free online screening test to see if you would be a candidate of LASIK surgery at www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery. A pop-up window will appear and ask you 10 or so questions about your health and eyesight, one by one. At the end, you will receive a report of whether you would be accepted or not, and the report will also include other important and useful information about the surgery,

The cost to have LASIK surgery varies from doctor to doctor. On the average, I have seen prices range from $400 per eye to over $1000 per eye. Check with your vision insurance provider beforehand to see if refractive surgery such as this is covered under your plan. If not, you can always make monthly payments.

As with any surgery, certain problems and complications can arise. However, with LASIK surgery, the probability of something going wrong is between 1% and 5% of patients. Things such as blurred vision, infection, dry and scratchy eyes, as well as double vision and haze can happen. But, those can all be treated.

I don't know about you, but I would love to be able to regain the 20/20 vision I had as a kid! I want to go swimming without having to take out my contacts first. I want to wake up each and every morning and not have to clean and put in my lenses! I have been researching LASIK surgery for the past couple weeks, and I am definitely considering having this wonderful procedure done!