7 Things You Need to Know About LASIK Eye Surgery
Are you one of the millions of people that are contemplating
having LASIK eye surgery to correct a vision problem? If so,
then you need to be sure that you know how to pick the right
surgeon for you and what to expect during your surgery. Knowing
what lies ahead of you will make the journey to better eyesight
a much smoother road to take.
1- Before you even get to the operating room, you will undergo
some tests with an optometrist. These tests are designed to let
the surgeon know how much work the cornea needs to have done.
These tests will serve two purposes; they will of course assess
your eyes and eyesight to see if your particular situation can
be fixed.
2- It is important to stop wearing your contacts several weeks
before these tests are performed. Contact lenses can temporarily
change the shape of the cornea; the doctor will need to see them
in their natural state. This will help the doctor to get an
accurate measurement of the cornea, therefore an accurate
measurement as to how much needs to be removed for the best
vision possible.
3- The second reason for the first couple of visits to the
doctor is to assess your personal health history, to see if you
are a viable candidate for the procedure. The doctor will be
looking for things such as a change in eyewear prescriptions
with in the past year, a history of Glaucoma, thin corneas and
previous eye injuries. These are a few of the possible issues
that will keep you from becoming a good candidate for the
operation.
4- After you have interviewed possible surgeons and settled on
the doctor that you feel the most comfortable with, gone through
all of the tests and are deemed as a suitable candidate, it is
time for the surgery. When you enter the room for the surgery,
you will be instructed to sit in a recliner type chair. This
will put you into the correct position for the surgery.
5- The surgeon will be using a large machine that is attached to
a microscope, a computer and the laser. You will be given an eye
drop that has a numbing agent in it and your eye will be
cleaned. After the cleaning your eyelid will be held open by a
specialized speculum, this will prevent blinking. A ring will be
placed over the cornea, this will be an applied using high
pressure to lift the cornea off the eye, this may feel slightly
painful.
6- When the cornea is in place, the surgeon then cuts the cornea
to permit the laser access to the eye. Now it is time for the
laser to do its job, the exact measurements of how much needs to
be removed to correctly reshape the eye was programmed into the
computer from the tests that were done in the office.
7- The computer stops the laser at the exact time that the right
amount of tissue has been removed. That's it; the LASIK eye
surgery is complete. The doctor will then put a patch over the
eye to protect the cornea during the healing process. Most
people are back to work and normal routines with in a couple of
days to a week, but your doctor will be able advise you
regarding your personal situation.