What is LASIK?
LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis and is really a lasting surgical process where a flap is cut on the cornea with a knife-like device, called microkeratome. The form of the cornea is then changed via a cool ultraviolet light beam from an excimer laser.
How is it Performed?
The doctor will ensure your eye is positioned straight under the laser. A retainer is placed over your eye to maintain your eyelids open. A suction ring keeps your eye pressurized, that is important in LASIK Atlanta for allowing the surgeon to cut the corneal flap. The surgeon will mark where the flap should be placed. The flap is then made with either a microkeratome blade or with a laser, depending on the surgeon’s preference. The doctor uses a computer to change the laser for your certain prescription. You’ll search at a target light for a brief time while he watches your eye through a microscope while the laser sends pulses of light to your cornea. The laser light pulses will then painlessly remove the tissue.
A study comparing the safety, effectiveness and reliability of LASIK and LASEK has discovered no clinically important differences between the 2 kinds of laser eye surgery. The study, led by a College of Illinois at Chicago researcher, is published within the December 2006 problem of the American Journal of Ophthalmology. “Although there have been many studies of the safety and efficacy of both kinds of laser surgery, there has not been a big study straight comparing the results of the 2 procedures,” mentioned Dr. Dimitri Azar, field chair of ophthalmologic research and professor and head of ophthalmology and visual sciences at UIC. Within the retrospective, case matched study, eyes that had undergone laser eye surgery were matched for a few measures, including visual acuity and astigmatism; 122 LASIKtreated eyes were matched for all measures with 122 LASEK-treated eyes from a review of the charts of 2,257 eye operations done by Azar. All patients’ results included a followup of at least six months. “We discovered that although there were some differences within the visual and refractive results that prefer the LASEK process, the differences were not clinically important,” mentioned Azar. “These results are in line with earlier small studies that we reviewed comparing the procedures.” LASIK, which stands for laser in situ keratomileusis, was introduced within the mid-nineties and has mostly replaced the older photorefractive keratectomy process, better called PRK. Unlike PRK, where the surface layer of the cornea is scraped away to enable the reshaping of the underlying cornea, with LASIK a flap is created within the top cornea layer to allow access to the underlying cornea. LASIK avoids many of the issues of corneal haze, postoperative pain and slow rehabilitation seen in PRK, but issues are occasionally of the flap. In LASEK (laser epithelial keratomileusis), the surface cornea layer is treated with alcohol and
then peeled back to allow reshaping of the underlying layer. It avoids all flap-related problems of LASIK, and has less postoperative pain and quicker recovery than PRK.