Eye Surgery: What you should know...

Life without contacts or glasses would be a whole new life. But when you begin to think about LASIK surgery, there are so many questions. And all providers are definitely not alike. That's why understanding how to get the best possible results, in the safest possible way is so important.

PRK is an outpatient procedure generally performed with local anesthetic eye drops. This type of refractive surgery gently reshapes the cornea by removing microscopic amounts of tissue from the outer surface with a cool, computer-controlled ultraviolet beam of light. The beam is so precise it can cut notches in a strand of human hair without breaking it, and each pulse can remove 39 millionths of an inch of tissue in 12 billionths of a second. The procedure itself takes only a few minutes, and patients are typically back to daily routines in one to three days.

LASIK is a more complex procedure than PRK. It is performed for all degrees of nearsightedness. The surgeon uses a knife called a microkeratome to cut a flap of corneal tissue, removes the targeted tissue beneath it with the laser, and then replaces the flap.

Some doctors believe that LASIK is a suitable procedure for correcting the most severe refractive errors. They also say that there is generally a faster recovery time after LASIK than after PRK. In addition, LASIK patients can see well enough to drive immediately and have good vision within a week.

Who is Right for Laser Eye Surgery? While many individuals are considered good candidates for LASIK, there are some who do not meet the general-ly accepted medical criteria to ensure a successful laser vision procedure. Individuals that are not deemed good candidates given today�s technology may be able to have the surgery in the future, as technology advances and new techniques are refined. Anyone considering laser eye surgery must have a thorough examination by an ophthalmologist that will help determine, in consulta-tion with the patient, whether or not the LASIK proce-dure is right for them. Based on various conditions and circumstances, all LASIK candidates will fall into one of the following three broad categories.

LASIK Candidate Sometimes, factors exist that preclude a candidate from being ideal for LASIK surgery. In many cases, a surgeon may still be able to perform the procedure safely, given that the candidate and physician have adequately dis-cussed the benefits and risks, and set realistic expecta-tions for the results. Candidates in this category include those who: