Modern eye surgery is a marvel.
Over the last thirty years, surgical procedures for the eyes have evolved at a staggering rate.
There are many vision problems that can be solved with a quick one or two hour procedure.
These procedures are not only simple and easy to recover from, but they also leave the patient with permanent benefits.
Often, the patient no longer needs corrective eyewear after a surgery.
LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) surgery is a modern technique used to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatisms.
This is the most commonly used technique in eye surgeries.
The patient will be fully conscious during this procedure, but there is usually not much pain involved.
LASIK is a laser surgery that will involve an incision into the surface of the eye.
A thin layer of skin on the surface of the eyeball is cut with a tool called a microkeratome.
This instrument is a small disposable blade used for surgical incisions.
The incision could also be made using a laser instead of the metal blade that makes up the microkeratome.
Using a laser for this part of the procedure is the latest development in eye surgery.
The incision allows the surgeon to peel back the top layer of the eye.
The surgeon will use alcohol to float away the layer of the eye that was created.
Once this is done, the surgeon will use a laser to reshape the cornea.
However much it sounds like it would be painful, this is mostly pain free.
This might sound frightening, but it is much scarier to think about than it is to actually experience it.
The surgery corrects nearsightedness by flattening the cornea.
For farsightedness, the cornea is steepened.
Laser surgery can be used to correct astigmatisms by reshaping the irregular cornea into a normal cornea.
Thirty years ago, this would be a different experience.
PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) was the method used before LASIK was available.
PRK uses an ultraviolet light beam to remove tiny pieces of tissue from the eye.
The removal of this tissue reshapes the cornea to achieve the desired results.