All About Lasik

For those of us who deal with the ramifications of less than perfect vision on a daily basis, we know how much our routines can center on maintaining our eyewear; from uncomfortable glasses that get in our way, to contact lenses that dry our eyes and always seem to go missing at the most inopportune moments. And when you add to that the expense of vision treatment for those who wear glasses or contacts, it can be downright frustrating. But what most people have come to discover is that corrective laser eye surgery – a procedure that takes less than an hour and costs considerably less than a lifetime of vision correction prescriptions – can not only perfect your vision but address a number of eye conditions with which many people suffer.

Corrective laser eye surgery can allow you to finally have the vision you have always wanted; most patients are able to achieve 20/20 vision even immediately following the procedure. For those who have suffered with poor vision their entire lives, this can be a miracle procedure. And for those who suffer from such degenerative conditions as dry eye – wherein sufferers experience itchy, burning eyes, glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration, corrective laser eye surgery can be a saving grace.

When most people think of corrective laser eye surgery they immediately think of Lasik surgery – a popular procedure that is used to correct vision. But the truth is that corrective eye surgery is rather like an umbrella phrase under which all manner of corrective procedures fall. Lasik is indeed one of the procedures that falls under this umbrella and is considered to be an excimer laser procedure – through which the cornea of the eye is reshaped by laser. Lasik – and the procedures like it – correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. The difference between the various excimer laser procedures is the type of laser that is used and the technique that is followed depending on what particular procedure is likely to bring you the most success based on the condition and shape of your eyes.

Non-excimer laser procedures are another group that falls with corrective laser eye surgery. Such procedures involve one of three things: the insertion of permanent lenses into the eye, the reshaping of the eye using laser energy or radio waves instead of lasers themselves, or the actual cutting of the eye. These procedures are meant for those who experience severely compromised vision or cataracts.

Other corrective eye surgery may include more complex and comprehensive procedures such as cornea transplants during which healthy tissue from a donor eye is transplanted into the eye of someone whose own cornea has been compromised due to injury or illness. There is also a procedure that is used to treat Keratoconus – or the bulging of the corneas; during this procedure the surgeon places plastic inserts (Intacs) onto the corners of the cornea to flatten them.

Not surprisingly, as technology continues to advance, corrective laser eye surgery continues to make similar advancements. More and more people have come to discover that it is no longer necessary to live with permanent vision impairment. If you feel that you may be a candidate for such procedures, see your eye doctor for a thorough examination.

Samantha Kay
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/deciding-if-corrective-laser-eye-surgery-is-for-you-123942.html

Is there certain certification I should look for? A website that has ratings of clinics in my area perhaps? I live in the L.A. area by the way if anyone else in my area has recommendations.

This is an excellent question. LASIK eye surgery can be a life changing event so you really want to do your homework prior to your LASIK surgery. First, you want to start with good LASIK technology. We would recommend an all laser (bladeless) LASIK treatment as well as a custom LASIK treatment. The all laser system greatly improves the safety of the flap making process while the customVue treatment gives you the best vision. Second, you want the best surgeon. We would recommend a LASIK eye center in which your LASIK surgeon personally does your consultation and discusses with you if you are a good LASIK eye surgery candidate and goes over your every concern.

im doing an assignment on laser eye surgery and i need to know how long the procedure takes and how much does it cost, the types of surgeries im doing are

PRK
LASIK
LASEK
Epi-Lasik

so thanks in advance

You can easily check your minimal health care rates in internet, for example here – health-quotes.talk4fun.net

I’ve been looking into Lasik eye surgery to correct my vision. I’d like to know the average cost for this procedure. I’d also like to know risks, benefits, etc. The more info, the better. Thanks.

LASIK will almost certainly reduce your dependence on glasses and contact lenses, however, there is no certainty and there can be no guarantee that you will be able to achieve perfect vision without glasses. You have 90 to 95% chance of passing the vision test to get a drivers license without glasses (i.e 20/40 vision) and therefore 90 to 95% chance that you will be able to legally drive without glasses after LASIK (source: http://www.agingeye.net/lasik/lasik.php)

Serious complications from refractive surgery are rare, as evidenced by the low rate of loss of best spectacle-corrected visual acuity. However, before undergoing any refractive procedure, you should carefully weigh the risks and benefits based on your own personal value system, and try to avoid being influenced by friends that have had the procedure or doctors encouraging you to do so. Remember that, even though rare, complications do occur.

Some patients lose lines of vision on the vision chart that cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or surgery as a result of treatment. Loss of best spectacle-corrected visual acuity of more than two lines is noted in just under 1·0% of patients (FDA data)

Results are generally not as good in patients with very large refractive errors of any type. You should discuss your expectations with your doctor and realize that you may still require glasses or contacts after the surgery.

For some farsighted patients, results may diminish with age. If you are farsighted, the level of improved vision you experience after surgery may decrease with age. This can occur if your manifest refraction (a vision exam with lenses before dilating drops) is very different from your cycloplegic refraction (a vision exam with lenses after dilating drops).

Some patients develop debilitating visual symptoms. Some patients develop glare, halos, and/or double vision that can seriously affect nighttime vision. Even with good vision on the vision chart, some patients do not see as well in situations of low contrast, such as at night or in fog, after treatment as compared to before treatment.

don’t do lasik and wait for the intra-lasik…..google it…its something better and new machine but how ever i say you wait a little longer before anything to see if there is any side-affects!!!!

My range-scores are starting to suffer due to degrading eyesight, and I’m considering getting a lasik treatment to correct it. My question is, is it at all possible to attain the eagle-eye that I had before my vision started degrading, or will it only go to 20/20? Is there any way for me to get my old 20/10 vision back?

There are two separate issues here.

One is the drop of visual acuity due to focussing error:
your 20/xx score without glasses or contacts.

The other is how well the visual/neural system can perforn when in optimum focus. This is for many people near 20/20, but some can do better, and some will never get 20/20 whatever optical correction is used, spectacle contact or laser, due to a limitation somewhere else in the system.
(think film photography: you can fiddle with your camera all you like, but if the processing lab is poor, you’re not going to get pin sharp pictures.)
Lasik, glasses and contacts all aim to throw the eye into "good focus". How good that is hangs on the clarity and smoothness of the cornea and crystallline lens, the grain of the macula and the neural processing.

Now, with lasik it’s extremely likely that your vision without glasses will improve. If the Rx result comes out very near zero, the *unaided* vision could be 20/20 or better, depending how well the rest of the eye works.

But for a good number people the best vision after lasik will be detectably worse than the best with *with* glasses before lasik, since the quality of the cornea will have been reduced.
(detectable, that is, by careful examination: not necessarily in the day-to-day experience of the patient)

For some this reduction in quality shows in flare and halos, especially at night, but more rarely it can even affect the best line that can be read on a high contrast letter chart.
(It’s often more obvious on a contrast censitivity chart, where the letter don’t get smaller but get greyer, paler, on each line.)

So, to return you your original question, if you’ve had better than 20/20 unaided or with glasses in the past, then better than 20/20 is a possible outcome with lasik. But it’s not assured.

I have like…. Minus 4 and a Minus 2 on each eye. And on both eyes I have this other problem called "cylinder" that I dunno about. Can Lasik completely restore my vision? Money is not an issue. Eye is a very important thing, and I would pay a lot for this surgery. Will a very good Lasik surgeon able to give me 20/20?

My eyes were a minus 7 and minus 11 and I was considered legally blind. I also had an astigmatism which I think might be what you are calling cylinder. Automatism is where your eye is misshapen like a football and it changes the way light enters your eye. I had one eye done with the PRK method and one with lasik. (I did them at different times for money reasons, when I did the first eye PRK was the only method that existed). I now have 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/25 in the other, and it is AMAZING! Make sure you go to a reputable surgeon, but I highly recommend it!

I suffer myopia, can you show me the way to reduce it as fast as possible without LASIK surgery ??

Try Dr. Richard Schulze’s eyewash formula..This is meant to be used in the eye (saw demonstrated on his save your life video–with sam Biser) not in the bathwater as he says in the catolog..legally he is not allowed to suggest putting in your eye. but that is the only way it will work. Biser said they got more responses to that than anything published in his newsletter.

Thousands wrote they had been cured of all types of eye problems including some even with blindness.(diabetic retinopathy, cateracts, glacoma)..don’t let the cayenne in it scare you. It only slightly stings a few minutes and will not harm the eye…I’ve used it before. It works with the traditional eye herbs and the cayenne bringing circulation to the eye and pushing out the toxins.

First pioneered by Dr. John R. Christopher who tells of curing a blind infant with NO optic nerve whose parents were told the child would never see.

When Dr. Schultz (who trained under Christopher and other well known natural healers) saw the baby crawling and picking up colored scraps of paper and chasing balls, he became a total believer in natural healing and went on to operate an underground clinic for 20 years healing many of incurable illnesses via his "incurable program"…ist pioneereed by
Christopher and later inproved on with many dying patientsd by Schulze. He uppep Christopher’s cayenne and has demonstrated using tinctures with 1000 x’s more cayenne than the one he sells to demonstrate there is no damage done to the eye.

You can get it by calling Schulze’s company (1-800-herbdoc). Be sure to request receiving huge and informative catolog and free newsletter.

Also see the book "Bates method for better eyesight" (this may work better with youngsters than adults but may be worth a shot.

well i’m liking to get my eyes corrected maybe next year I should be a candidate for lasik but I was wondering if anyone knows a good lasik center in Tennessee cookeville Nashville area would be best for me please if anyone knows of any let me know and if you recently had yours done can you give me the price range that would help me too.

I got Lasik correction last month and have not had any problems. It took me forever to get up the nerves to get the surgery done though, now I’m glad I did. I spent hours at the clinic inquiring about how the surgery work (Lasik vs PRK) and what my expectations were. My Alabama eye doctor was very helpful. Try visiting your local Tennessee laser vision clinic and make an appointment for a consultation. http://www.locallaservisioncenters.com/Tennessee-Laser-Vision-Correction.html

Hope this helps

If so, how was your experience.

I went to an appointment with them yesterday and they seemed to be great, but the thing that amused me was the price because it was so cheap. I know that the prices have dropped but I’ve been shopping around and they are between $4000 and $5000 for both eyes, and they only charged me $2,700 with a lifetime insurance for BOTH eyes, which is GREAT and I’m really excited about it, but know I’m wondering if they are good enough. I have a friend who lives in Dallas and she had in done 2 months ago, she paid $6,500. So, does anybody know if they are reliable and if LASIK Vision Institute is a safe place for that kind of surgery??

I live in Alabama. I paid $3200 for both eyes. It all really just depends on your eye sight before. If they are a trusted and very well known place, then have it done!! I dont regret it at all. Be aware though, your eyes will be extremely dry for a while.