All About Lasik

Before answering that question specifically, let’s review what happens during LASIK surgery.

To begin, numbing drops are applied to the eye so no pain is felt during the procedure. Next, an ultra-thin blade is used to create a flap on the top of the cornea. That corneal flap is folded back and an excimer laser is used to reshape the cornea, correcting the vision problems to as close to 20/20 as possible. Finally, the corneal flap is replaced and left to heal naturally without the need for stitches.

Corneal thickness is an extremely important consideration here due to the reshaping done to improve vision during the LASIK procedure. Having a condition known as keratoconus is an automatic disqualifier for having LASIK. Keratoconus is a degenerative corneal disease affecting ones vision. This hereditary condition includes a general thinning of the cornea along with a cone-shaped protrusion of the central cornea. Thinning the cornea further through laser vision correction can weaken an already diseased cornea and could require a corneal transplant sooner rather than later. Currently, no form of LASIK is recommended for patients with keratoconus.

However, procedures such as PRK and LASEK are performed without making the corneal flap and are better suited for patients with thinner than normal corneas.

PRK is an acronym for photo-refractive keratotomy and was around before LASIK surgery. An excimer laser is also used in this procedure but without having to allow for a corneal flap, it is safe to reshape the cornea without fear of worsening the existing keratoconus.

LASEK is much like PRK, but a very thin layer of the epithelium (outer-most layer of cells on the cornea) is removed and replaced intact before and after the corneal reshaping procedure.

If you are considering laser vision correction and have concerns about how good a candidate you might be, be sure to find a LASIK surgeon who has performed at least 1,000 laser vision correction procedures. These are the surgeons most likely to have the skill, experience, up-to-date equipment and technology necessary to meet your needs. You want an ophthalmologist who can provide a thorough exam, and exceptional care following your laser vision correction procedure.

If you would like more information on LASIK vision correction in Orange County, California and the surrounding area, please visit Khanna Institute of LASIK & Refractive Surgery today.

Jennifer Kimberley
http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/why-does-it-matter-how-thick-my-cornea-is-if-i-want-to-have-lasik-724968.html

How long should your vision be at a stable point and not change anymore before you get Lasik surgery?

i had lasik and it didnt make my eyes good enough. they said my vision has the be the same for 2 eye exams before I can have the second surgery to do it again. i had an eye exam last month and have one this month. but they also said they have to wait 3 to 6 months after the first surgery. this next eye exam will be 3 months and If my vision hasn’t changed, I’ll have the surgery that same day… hope this helped…
btw, i went to lasik plus, and don’t recommend them to anyone

is it worth spending more money on wavefront laser eye sugery than the reg options out there?

Regardless of whether the surgeon does LASIK or surface ablation, there is an additional choice in “how” the laser will be applied to the cornea. Conventional ablations make use of data obtained during manifest and cycloplegic refractions. This data, that is generated by humans (surgeon, technician etc) based on their examination of your eye, is what tells the laser how much to treat and how to treat. The ablation profile will contain a spherical component and an astigmatic component. Conventional ablations essentially treat what glasses have been treating for hundreds of years. Wavefront-guided treatments allow optical properties beyond spherical and cylindrical defocus to be corrected. Wavefront aberrometers (automated machines) capture data that describe the optical aberrations of a patient’s eye. This data, that is generated by an automated machine (wavefront aberrometer) based on an average of 3 automated recordings, is what tells the laser how much to treat and how to treat.

Whether the additional information obtained with wavefront-guided treatments is translated into better ablations and improved acuity compared with conventional LASIK can be determined by comparing the FDA trials data. In wavefront-guided LASIK, 89% of patients achieved uncorrected visual acuities of 20/20 or better . By contrast, with conventional treatment, patients reached 20/20 or better only 72% of the time. Therefore more people can expect to achieve uncorrected vision of 20/20 with wavefront-guided LASIK. The likely reason for this difference is that wavefront-guided treatments treat higher order aberrations as well (conventional treatments do not treat higher order aberrations).

I don’t exactly remember what number astigmatism, I remember hearing a 5 somewhere.. Please help

yes, very much

Have you had LASIK surgery? Tell me about the experience and results please! Also, I’d be very interested in any horror stories. I won’t both points of view if they both exist.

I was about 20/250 before Lasik surgery a couple of years ago. The procedure was painless, probably due to the eye numbing drops and Valium they gave me. The ride home (as a passenger, of course) was fairly uncomfortable, mainly due to light sensitivity. The doctor gave me dark goggles, but the light was still too bright. I was in some pain once I got home (maybe 3 hours post procedure), but I had some left over Vicodin, and took two doses of that. The Vicodin took the edge off. Slept fine that night. Woke up the next morning, and I COULD SEE FINE! Hallelujah! I was jazzed up about that. I drove myself to my one day check up (an 2 hour round trip) with no problems, although I did bring someone with me, as a backup driver, should it have been necessary. For that check up, I was seeing at 20/25, less than 24 hours after the surgery. I went to work that afternoon (doing ultrasound which really requires you to use your eyes). For my one week check up, I was seeing between 20/20 and 20/15. Other than the touch of pain I had post procedure, before I went to bed for the night, I had no other problems. I would do it again in a heartbeat! No more glasses, no more contacts, no more cleaning solutions and saline!

My advice would be to talk to everyone….talk to your family, friends and co-workers. Then ask your family, friends and co-workers to talk to their family, friends and co-workers….you get the idea. I found my surgeon by word of mouth. I asked everyone I know if they had Lasiks (or knew anyone who had Lasiks), and what doctor they went to. Almost everyone I talked to in my area went to the surgeon I ended up going to, and everyone was perfectly satisfied. I went into the procedure very confident!

Just one other thing….I went to a doctor who used computerized, laser equipment. No knives were involved. But, it cost me a pretty penny. I paid $5500 for both eyes, but I was not comfortable going to a doctor that advertised in the newspaper for $500 per eye. Sometimes you get what you pay for! Good luck to you!

I am considering lasik surgery. My current eyeglass prescription is:

OD -13.25 CYL +1.50 AXIS 103
OS -12.75 CYL +1.50 AXIS 073

Of course that is really powerful. The dr said they would be able to correct about 90% of my vision, and bring me down to about a
-2.00 in each eye.

My question is, anyone out there with prescriptions in the -2.00 nearsighted range, how well can you see without your glasses? I have never experienced vision this good without glasses, so I am just wondering if I will be able to see fairly well without my new glasses on after the surgery.

2D myopia is certainly an improvement from where you are now, yet there is still noticable blur. At this level, glasses or contact lenses would be required for driving, watching a football game, etc. This is also almost the level that most people start to wear glasses or contacts full-time rather than "only to drive or watch a movie."

Even if LASIK cannot correct you fully, reducing or eliminating the astigmatism (the "+1.50 AXIS xxx" portion of your prescription) and lowering your prescription in general will open up more contact lens options. The change in distortion going between glasses and contacts is also much more tolerable at this level.

Some options to help you experience this sort of vision:

1) A decent simulator that may help with your decision:
http://www.lasik-center.com/simulator/freevissimulator.html

2) Your doctor should also be able to show you what being -2D undercorrected looks like through the phoroptor or trial lenses.

3) Do you have an old pair of glasses laying around with a prescription close to one of these (they are equivalent)?
OD -11.25 +1.50 x 103
OS -10.75 +1.50 x 073
-or-
OD -9.75 -1.50 x 013
OS -9.25 -1.50 x 163
Wearing some old glasses with this prescription would give a good indication.

4) If you wear contacts, get some +2.00 reading glasses from the drugstore.

Of course, none of this addresses any other complications from surgery. You may also experience halos or ghosting that would worsen your best-corrected visual acuity from what you currently experience with glasses. Or, the result could come in less than a -2D target and be more like -3D.

Personally, if the doctor couldn’t target < -1D with LASIK and I had good vision with glasses, I would not proceed. Possibly consider interocular lens (IOL) implants as an alternative.

In college I had an eye problem and had to go to the university hospital. the head doctor there said i would be a great candidate for Lasik at the time. I was 21. I just recently went to an eye appointment at an America’s Best and the doctor there told me to weight until i was 28-30. i’ve heard of people having it sooner but no one that i know. Has anyone heard about the 28-30 bit?

Over 18, and with at least two year’s history of a stable Rx…
That is going to push many people to 24-25, but once there is good evidence that the eyes are going to stay near zero (for a good while at least) once they are reset to zero, there is no need to wait longer (all other factors been satisfactory, and the risks being accepted).

I heard that there is a new procedure that does not involve the use of laser and the procedure is reversible. I just can’t seem to find out what it’s called.

There’s the Visian Implantable Collamer Lens or the Verisyse Intraocular Lens. Visian ICL is the newer one – shorter surgery time, no sutures involved, lens is more flexible than Verisyse lens. Both procedures correct -3.00 diopters of nearsightedness to -20.00 diopters of nearsightedness.

In either procedure, a contact lens is implanted in the eye. If your vision changes, the surgeon can remove the lens and replace it with a different lens RX.

I’m not happy at the job I’m at even though I work for Walgreen’s IT dept and it has great benefits. I can’t stand it because the 1.5 hour drive going and coming. Plus the long hours and they’re uber strict. My passion is to become a high school guidance counselor. I want to make over my finances so that I can own my home in the next couple years. I want to get the hell out of Illinois and move to a warmer climate. I want to do physical make over such getting rid of my adult acne, straightening and whitening my teeth, loosing 20lbs (I’m 5′1 145lbs), and get lasik eye so I never ever have to wear these gotdamn glasses anymore. I just don’t know where to start.

Well you have to start somewhere…. I would say moving to a warmer climate, then you would be forced to get a new career and go from there…

there is nothing really for free,especially something as costly as lasik eye surgery.Who ever told you that is a lier,or is just trying to trick you.It cost around 2,000+ dollars for lasik anyways.So no,there is no free lasik.