LASIK - What is it?

I know most of you have probably heard about LASIK before. And you may or may not know what it is. Since I had the operation performed yesterday, I thought I'd write one post on what it is (e.i. what your options are if you are considering the surgery) and one post on my experience with it.

I went to LASIK Plus for my operation. I went there out of necessity, since it's the only place where my insurance would foot some of the bill. Since the cost of LASIK is often a deterrent for many people, going to a place where your insurance covers some of the cost (in most cases 5%-15%) is a good idea. Since I went to LASIK Plus for my surgery, I will be getting most of my definitions and information from them. They tout having performed over a million surgeries nationwide and they use the latest technology for the surgery.

LASIK surgery can be used to correct many types of vision problems. It can correct Myopia (nearsightedness), Hyperopia (farsightedness), Astigmatism, and it can provide a solution (but not a cure) for Presbyopia.

Myopia is where someone can see clearly up close, but not far away. A nearsighted person will have a negative number for their prescription in the sphere column. (my prescription was about a -8 in both eyes before the surgery) Hyperopia is where people can see clearly far away, but not up close. A farsighted person will have a positive number for their prescription in the sphere column. Astigmatism is a condition which blurs vision at all distances because the optical parts of the eye (cornea and lens) do not focus light onto the retina clearly. This condition is quite common, and results from an unequal curve of the cornea when comparing the horizontal and vertical planes. For descriptive purposes, imagine half of a tennis ball, squeezed at the top and bottom; the ball is now curved unequally. In the eye, this results in inaccurate focus on the retina. Lenses are often used to help focus the light to eliminate blurriness from astigmatism. (Presbyopia defined below in Monovision explanation).

So, what is LASIK? Well, it stands for Laser Assisted in SItu Keratomileusis. This is more simply said as "reshaping the cornea using a laser." This is also referred to as "traditional" LASIK. (This procedure is generally for people whose prescription is -3 or less with an Astigmatism better than -1)

There are actually quite a few options available to you for vision correction in addition to "traditional" LASIK. There is Custom LASIK, which uses advanced mapping systems to determine a precise treatment solution for your specific vision needs. Using the latest laser technology the "high order aberrations" or corneal irregularities that cause poor vision can now be mapped and corrected during the treatment. This means that some people who used to see glares and halos may see those disappear. The main difference between "Custom" LASIK and "Traditional" LASIK is that with custom LASIK they use WaveFront technology to create a map of your cornea. Since every cornea is different, kind of like a fingerprint, this procedure makes the surgery 25 times more accurate than using standard methods. (This method is typically reserved for people whose prescription is -4 or greater) As part of the LASIK Plus custom LASIK procedure, LADARVision is used. That's what creates the three-dimensional map of your eye. LASIK Plus also uses VISX Star S4 technology. This was just approved for use in 2007 by the FDA and is the absolute latest technology for LASIK vision correction.

The next option that is offered is called Photo Refractive Keratectomy or PRK. PRK is a corneal procedure where the superficial cornea is removed to improve vision. PRK is an Alternative to LASIK Eye Surgery. One difference between PRK and LASIK is recovery time. PRK takes about a week to recover and it can be a painful recovery where LASIK is a 24 hour recovery and is virtually painless. PRK was actually the way vision was corrected before LASIK came around. PRK is performed with an excimer laser, which uses a cool ultraviolet light beam to precisely remove ("ablate") very tiny bits of tissue from the surface of the cornea in order to reshape it. When you reshape the cornea in the right way, it works better to focus light into the eye and onto the retina, providing clearer vision than before. Many surgeons prefer PRK for patients with larger pupils or thin corneas.

Last, we'll talk about Monovision. Monovision is a procedure where one eye is deliberately corrected for distance vision and the other for close vision. This is a procedure for people who are older and require the use of reading glasses due to Presbyopia. Presbyopia comes from the word "Presbys", which is Greek for "old man" and "opia", which refers to the eye. Presbyopia typically occurs in our late thirties or early forties, and it can make reading things up close difficult. Our lenses lose their ability to accommodate, or change shape as we get older. Monovision eliminates the need for bifocals.

One of the neat things about LASIK Plus is the technology they have available to them to correct your vision. They use something called IntraLase to actually make the corneal flap. (The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris and pupil.) In order to access your cornea, a flap must be created. Traditionally this is done with the use of a microkeratome. The microkeratome is a sharp blade that is used to cut the cornea at a predetermined depth to prepare the flap for LASIK eye surgery. Using the microkeratome is still an approved method of creating the corneal flap. However, the IntraLase laser means that you will have no instruments coming toward your eye.

Now, you know about LASIK and the different treatment options available for correcting your specific vision problem. Tomorrow...my experience with LASIK at LASIK Plus.