Laser Eye Surgery

Important Reasons to Choose LASIK Eye Surgery

2008-01-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

Important Reasons to Choose LASIK Eye Surgery (a type of laser eye surgery)

There are many reasons to choose LASIK eye surgery but If you're currently sitting on the fence when it comes to deciding whether or not to have LASIK eye surgery performed in order to improve your vision you're probably not alone. Everyday more and more consumers suffering from various vision impairments are opting to have laser eye surgery performed in order to improve the quality of their eyesight. However, the reasons for every person seeking out this vision correction treatment may differ. Some folks simply don’t want to wear contacts anymore; others may have just gotten fed up with wearing eyeglasses. No matter what your motivation may be, the decision to have eye improvement surgery is no small task and it should be considered carefully.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, perhaps the number one reason most people undergo vision correction surgery or LASIK as it is commonly referred to, is so they no longer have a valid need to wear corrective lenses or glasses. Let's face it although LASIK isn't that cheap (prices do continue to drop) the money spent on replacing contact lenses and ordering the supplies necessary to keep them working properly can add up over your lifetime. LASIK eliminates this cost requirement. Even your glasses will need to be replaced as they wear out or your current eye prescription no longer provides the clarity of vision that many people seek. Also for many folks there is always a time when they have either lost or misplaced their eyeglasses only to never see them (no pun intended) again. These replacement costs can get rather large so the funds saved by having laser eye surgery performed may actually turn out to be a large amount when looked at over a period of time.

For many active or sports minded people LASIK offers them an opportunity to continue to compete in athletic activities without the physical constraints of having to wear contact lenses or eye glasses. Even swimming takes on a whole new level of pleasure as you no longer need any eyewear to allow you to see clearly after you have undergone LASIK surgery. I can personally remember attempting to play baseball and football while growing up with glasses on. This was a major hassle since they constantly fogged up and the perspiration really mucked up my glasses. LASIK not only improves your eyesight it also allows a freedom that many folks who were stuck with using corrective eyewear as they grew up have yet to experience. For many this is one of the main reasons to choose LASIK eye surgery.

LASIK also appeals to those individuals that need to indulge their vanity side by allowing them to ditch the glasses they have been wearing in order to see more clearly. With the way human nature is, wearing eyeglasses can leave many people feeling unattractive or self-conscious about the way they look. Laser vision correction surgery provides an immediate boost in the self-confidence of almost everyone that has the surgery performed. Not only can they see better, but now they also feel better about themselves due to no longer having the constraints of needing corrective eyewear.

LASIK eye surgery is a procedure that solves many of today's more common eye impairments and problems. However, it also provides a way to save money by eliminating the normal wear and tear and daily costs associated with other vision correction eyewear such as contacts and glasses. Additionally, LASIK also injects anew sense of confidence in the consumers that undergo the laser eye surgery treatment. If you're still undecided about having LASIK performed keep in mind the items discussed throughout this article. Doing so may just provide the clarity that you need in order to make the right decision.

Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Vision-Doctor.com He provides more eye surgery solutions, LASIK information and reasons to choose LASIK eye surgery that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Gorman

Please visit the Archive for more readings on laser eye surgery.

The Technical Development of Lasik Laser Eye Surgery

2008-01-07T21:34:00.000-08:00

Let's find out about the technical development of Lasik (one type of laser eye surgery)

Technological development

The LASIK technique was made possible by the Colombian-based Spanish ophthalmologist Jose Barraquer, who, around 1950 in his clinic in Bogotá, Colombia, developed the first microkeratome, used to cut thin flaps in the cornea and alter its shape, in a procedure called keratomileusis. He also provided the knowledge about how much of the cornea had to be left unaltered to provide a stable long-term result.

Later technical and procedural developments included the RK (radial keratotomy) started in the 70’s in Russia by Svyatoslav Fyodorov and the development of PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) in the 80’s in Germany by Theo Seiler.

In 1968, at the Northrup Corporation Research and Technology Center of the University of California, Mani Lal Bhaumik and a group of other scientists, while working on the development of a carbon-dioxide laser, would develop the Excimer laser, where molecules that do not normally exist come into being when xenon, argon or krypton gases are excited. This would form the cornerstone for LASIK eye surgery. Dr. Bhaumik announced his discovery in May of 1973 at a meeting of the Denver Optical Society of America in Denver, Colorado. He would later patent it. [1]

The introduction of Laser in this refractive procedure started with the developments in Laser technology by Rangaswamy Srinivasan. In 1980, Srinivasan, working at IBM Research Lab, discovered that an ultraviolet excimer laser could etch living tissue in a precise manner with no thermal damage to the surrounding area. He named the phenomenon Ablative Photodecomposition (APD).[2]. Dr. Stephen Trokel published a paper in the American Journal of Ophthalmology in 1983, outlining the potential of using the excimer laser in refractive surgeries.

Using these advances in laser technology and the technical and theoretical developments in refractive surgery made since the 50's, LASIK surgery was developed in 1990 by Lucio Buratto (Italy) and Ioannis Pallikaris (Greece) as a melding of two prior techniques, keratomileusis and photorefractive keratectomy. It quickly became popular because of its greater precision and lower frequency of complications in comparison with these former two techniques. Today, faster lasers, larger spot areas, bladeless flap incision, and wavefront-optimized and -guided techniques have significantly improved the reliability of the procedure as compared to that of 1991. Nonetheless, the fundamental limitations of excimer lasers and undesirable destruction of the eye's nerves have spawned research into many alternatives to "plain" LASIK, including all-femtosecond correction (Femtosecond Lenticule EXtraction, FLIVC), LASEK, Epi-LASIK, sub-Bowman’s Keratomileusis aka thin-flap LASIK, wavefront-guided PRK, and modern intraocular lenses.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LASIK#_note-Arevalo

Video - Lasik eye surgery

2008-01-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

Are you so curious to know how the laser eye surgery is performed?

Let's watch this video, this is a real life experience of a person getting a Lasik eye surgery.
Thank you to the owner for sharing his once of a lifetime experience.

You might feel "euw" or "sick" when watching it, but if you yourself undergo the laser eye surgery operation, you can't really figure out what is happening. I hope this video will not prevent you from considering this option.

More Readings:
More experiences on laser eye surgery
Laser eye surgery - which one to choose?

Laser Eye Surgery - which one to choose?

2007-11-12T00:53:00.001-08:00

Are you thinking of getting laser eye surgery? but what kind of laser eye surgery to choose?

Which one suit you best? What about the cost? Is it one time solution? Will it last long?

I bet there are a lot more questions pondering your right now about laser eye surgery.

Thus, in this blog, I'm providing you with some must know information about laser eye surgery, the interesting facts and findings as well as some experiences from those who had gone through the laser eye surgery.

I hope the information available here, will be beneficial to you.

Enjoy reading!

Listed below are four common types of laser eye surgery:

1) LTK Laser Eye Surgery
LTK is an abbreviation of "Laser thermokeratoplasty". It is used to treat astigmatism as well as farsightedness. This method does not cut or remove any eye tissue. What it does, simply using the heat of a laser beam to reshape the cornea. The drawback of this method of laser eye surgery is, it does not give you a long lasting result. You may have to undergo for another surgery when your problem reoccurred. However, it is less expensive than other types of laser eye surgery.

2) Photorefractive Keratotomy (PRK) Laser Eye Surgery
Another common method of laser eye surgery is known simple as "PRK". It is precise and fast. You can back to work in three days time. In this method, the cornea is reshaped in a way that a fully computerized machine sends an ultraviolet beam of light to remove a very micro amount of tissue on the outer area of the cornea. You do not have to worry as the precision is extensively very high and in a few minutes everything settled. This kind of laser eye surgery could suit you best if you have medium level of nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism.

3)Lasik Laser Eye Surgery
Lasik stands for laser in-situ keratomileusis. This method of laser eye surgery is far more complex than the previous two. However, it is not suitable for everyone. Before taking lasik, someone has to go a thorough check to know whether lasik is the best option. In lasik, a small flap of the corneal tissue to be cut using a special tool known as microkeratome. This is to make way for the laser machine to laser the targeted tissue. The targeted tissue is below the flap. It is removed by using a fully computerized laser machine. Then, the flap is replaced. The recovery is almost instant. The cost of lasik laser eye surgery still can be considered expensive.

4) Lasek Laser Eye Surgery.
This method of laser eye surgery is fairly new. Lasek is an abbreviation of laser epithelial keratomileusis. It is commonly considered as the combination of lasik laser eye surgery and PRK laser eye surgery. This method is more suitable if you have cornea which is too thin or too flat for lasik. There is no cutting of flap. The outer surface of cornea is soften by numbing it first with eyedrops, then applying with the diluted alcohol solution. The outer layer is peeled while the laser beam reshape the cornea. The outer layer then be placed back to its original position. To fasten and protect healing, you have to put on a soft contact lens. The time to recovery is slightly slower than the lasik laser eye surgery, but definitely faster then the PRK laser eye surgery. Lasek is not for everyone. You have to go a thorough eye check to know whether lasek is the best option for you.

So now do you have a better understanding about laser eye surgery?

The basic rule is consult the best laser eye surgeon in your area and find the most ideal method for your laser eye surgery.

Please come back for more readings. See you!

Experiences by those who had received Laser Eye Surgery

2007-11-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

Experiences by those who had received Laser Eye Surgery

Hi readers! I would like to share some experiences by those who had received laser eye surgery.

I am thinking of getting laser eye surgery one day, once it become affordable to me. The stories of successful laser eye surgery always inspired me. If you are thinking of getting laser eye surgery too, then some experiences below might help.

Enjoy reading!

Story No.1
"...The surgeon then peels back the surface of the eye, and folds it over to one side, and the laser fires. It sounds like a loud click, like a large electric spark, but rapid fire for about 30 seconds." .... read more about this laser eye surgery experience

Story No.2
"Next they taped my upper and lower eyelashes on the eye they are going to work on. They gave me numbing drops in my eye and finally put the eye speculum in to hold my eye open. I was really worried about that part but it wasn't bothersome at all. They put more drops in to wash out my eye and then put this suction cup on my eye." ... find out more about this laser eye surgery experience

Story No.3
"Patricia is explaining that they will press on my eye and I will black out for ten seconds and oh WOW OW OW that was rough for me. Actually I think I was going OW OW OW the whole ten seconds. And then a little zippy sound, the eye gets sight back, and my cornea flap is cut.
Whoa." .... find out more what happen to this laser eye surgery patient.

Story No.4
"(They peal back the top of the cornea with one laser and then another laser reshapes the surface of the eye underneath. Then they lay the flap back down. Yes, it’s a little scary especially while they’re doing it.".... what happen next? read more about this laser eye surgery experience.

Only four real life experiences at this moment,

Please come back, as i will put on some more experiences by those who had received laser eye surgery.