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Lasik Treatment

Lasik Treatment

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Understanding LASIK Treatment:

LASIK, short for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis, has revolutionized vision correction, offering millions of individuals freedom from glasses and contact lenses.LASIK is a refractive surgical procedure designed to reshape the cornea, the transparent front part of the eye, to improve how light rays are focused onto the retina. By correcting refractive errors such as myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism, LASIK aims to reduce or eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses.

Who Is a Good Candidate for LASIK Surgery?

To have LASIK surgery, you need to meet certain requirements. Here are some of them :

  • You should be 18 years or older (ideally, over 21 years old, when vision is more likely to have stopped changing).
  • Your eye prescription should not have changed much in the last year.
  • Your refractive error must be one that can be treated with LASIK.
  • Your corneas need to be thick enough and healthy, and your overall eye health must be generally good.
  • You need to have realistic expectations about what LASIK can and cannot do for you.

Some people are not candidates for LASIK. They include people with :

  • an unstable (changing) refractive error
  • extreme levels of myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism
  • severe dry eye
  • corneas that are too thin
  • corneal scars or disease
  • keratoconus (cone-shaped cornea)
  • advanced glaucoma
  • a cataract affecting vision
  • a history of having certain eye infections
  • diabetes that is not controlled well

Also, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not have LASIK. This is due to vision changes that can happen during pregnancy.

Your ophthalmologist can talk with you about other conditions that may keep you from having LASIK.

To determine whether you are a candidate for LASIK, your ophthalmologist will examine your eyes. Here is what will be done :

  • The overall health of your eyes will be checked.
  • Measurements of your cornea will be taken.
  • Your refractive error will be measured.

In some cases, your ophthalmologist will measure the quality and the amount of tears that your eyes make. This is to check if you have dry eye, and if so, how severe it is.

Procedure : How is Lasik / Refractive Surgery done ?

Before the laser eye surgery

You and your ophthalmologist will discuss your vision needs based on your lifestyle. For example, if you play sports, you may be seeking clear distance vision from surgery.

Also, you and your ophthalmologist should discuss your expectations for LASIK. People who have LASIK to achieve perfect vision without glasses or contacts run the risk of being disappointed. This laser eye surgery allows people to do most of their everyday tasks without corrective lenses. However, you might need to wear glasses for certain activities, such as reading or driving at night.

Your ophthalmologist will thoroughly examine your eyes and make sure you are a candidate for LASIK. Here is what they will do :

  • Test your vision.This is to make sure that your vision has not changed. It also shows how high your refractive error is and whether LASIK can be used to correct your vision.
  • Check for other eye problems. Your ophthalmologist will make sure that you do not have eye problems. This is because other problems could affect your surgery, or LASIK could make those other problems worse. For example, if you have dry eyes, they may be worse after LASIK.
  • Measure and map the surface of your cornea. Your ophthalmologist will check the thickness of your cornea and make precise measurements of the cornea’s surface. Your eye surgeon uses these measurements to program the computer-based laser used during surgery.

During LASIK

This laser eye surgery is done in an outpatient surgery center or your ophthalmologist’s office. Your eye surgeon uses a laser to reshape your cornea. Here is what to expect :

  • Your eye will be numbed with eye drops.
  • Your eye surgeon will place an eyelid holder on your eye to keep you from blinking. They will also place a suction ring on your eye to keep it from moving. You will feel pressure like a finger pressing firmly on your eyelid. At this point, your vision will go dim or black.
  • Using either a device called a microkeratome or a laser, your ophthalmologist makes a paper-thin flap in the cornea tissue. Then they lift and fold the flap back.
  • You will be asked to stare at a target light so that your eyes will not move. The ophthalmologist then reshapes your cornea using a laser. The laser is a special instrument that has been programmed with measurements for your eye.
  • While your ophthalmologist is using the laser, you will hear a clicking sound. After reshaping the cornea, your eye surgeon folds the flap back down into position and smooths the edges. The flap attaches on its own in 2 to 3 minutes, where it will heal in place.

After LASIK

  • The ophthalmologist may place protective glasses or see through shield over your eye or ask you to wear a shield while sleeping for a few days. This is to help protect your eye while it heals.
  • You should plan to go home and take a nap or just relax after the surgery.
  • For a few hours, your eyes may feel scratchy or feel like they are burning. You will be given special eye drops to reduce dryness and help your eye heal.

Vision after LASIK

About 9 out of 10 people (90%) who have LASIK end up with vision between 20/20 and 20/40—without glasses or contact lenses.

It is important to know that LASIK cannot correct presbyopia. This is the normal, age-related loss of close-up vision. With or without refractive surgery, almost everyone who has excellent distance vision will need reading glasses after around age 40.

To help with presbyopia, some people have LASIK to get monovision. This means one eye is left slightly nearsighted and the other eye is adjusted for distance vision. The brain learns to adapt so that the nearsighted eye is used for close work, while the other eye sees distant objects. Monovision is not for everyone. To see if you are able to adapt to this correction, you will probably want to try monovision with contact lenses first.

LASIK Eye Surgery Benefits

LASIK surgery may be an option for the correction of these vision problems :

  • Nearsightedness, also called myopia. In nearsightedness, your eyeball is slightly longer than typical or the cornea curves too sharply. This causes light rays to focus in front of the retina, which makes distant vision blurry. Objects that are close can be seen fairly clearly. But objects in the distance will be blurry.
  • Farsightedness, also called hyperopia. In farsightedness, you have a shorter than average eyeball or a cornea that is too flat. This causes light to focus behind the retina instead of on it. This makes near vision, and sometimes distant vision, blurry.
  • Astigmatism. In astigmatism, the cornea curves or flattens unevenly. This affects focus of near and distant vision.

If you're considering LASIK surgery, you probably already wear glasses or contact lenses. Your eye doctor will talk with you about whether LASIK surgery or another similar refractive procedure is an option that will work for you.

LASIK Post-Op Instructions

  • Do NOT rub your eyes.
  • Wear the Protective goggles provided while sleeping for 1 week to avoid accidentally rubbing your eyes while sleeping.
  • Try to sleep 10 – 12 hours the first night after surgery.
  • Continue using Painkiller medications given to you 3 times a day on the day of the procedure. Take with food and a large glass of water. Do NOT wake up to use. Do NOT take if you have any allergies to Painkiller medications given to you. Do NOT take if you have stomach and/or intestinal bleeding problems.
  • Do NOT let the shower spray hit your eyes.
  • Call Dr. Krishna for any emergency.
  • No swimming, watersports, hot tubs or Jacuzzi use for 1 week. After 1 week you must wear protective goggles for 8 weeks after your procedure. Any ocean sports including swimming, diving, surfing and/or windsurfing wear protective goggles for 6 months.
  • Wear Protective goggles for 6 months for any and all contact sports
  • Do not use any eye make-up for 1 week. Do not put anything in or near your eyes during the 1st week unless directed by Dr. Krishna.
  • The day after the procedure you may pull your lid away from your eye and use a moistened cotton ball to wipe away any debris on the eyelids.
  • Red spots on the white part of your eyes are normal, especially under the lid.
  • It is very normal for the vision to fluctuate and change within the day, from day to day, from eye to eye and from light to dark conditions. This Is Normal.
  • It is very normal for the discomfort in your eyes to be different from one eye to the other. It may be more noticeable on one eye. This Is Also Very Normal.

*Starting After You Return Home From Your Procedure :

Eye drops should be used ONLY IF YOU ARE AWAKE. It is not necessary to wake up to put in your eye drops. Shake all the bottles before use.

Wash your hands before using your eye drops. To insert the drops gently pull down on the lower eyelid and insert in the pocket created. Gently release the lower lid. Make sure not to touch your eye to the bottle tip. Close your eyes for 30 seconds after putting in the drops.

*If your surgery was in the late morning or the afternoon you may not have enough time to put in all sets of the drops, Don’t Worry. Put a set of drops in before your nap and another set after waking. Don’t wake up just to use the drops. Start the schedule on the next full day after your procedure.

Risks and complications

A person is more at risk of developing complications if they have the following eye conditions :

  • eye infections, such as keratitis or ocular herpes
  • significant cataracts — people with this condition will not have corrected vision after laser surgery
  • glaucoma
  • large pupils
  • keratoconus, a disease that makes the cornea thinner and unstable over time

As with all surgeries, a person may experience complications, including :

  • Dry eyes : Up to 95% of people who have laser eye surgery may experience dry eyes after the procedure, where the eyes produce fewer tears. Lubricating eye drops can help with this symptom.
  • Glare or halo : 20% of people undergoing laser eye surgery may experience visual changes such as glare, halo, or sensitivity to light.
  • Double or blurry vision : As many as 1 in 50 people may report blurriness and feel there is something in their eyes. Diffuse lamellar keratitis — also called “sands of Sahara” syndrome — may be the cause.

Other complications a person may experience include :

  • eye infection
  • corneal flap complications
  • red or bloodshot whites of the eye

Most symptoms should resolve after the first few days, so an individual experiencing any symptoms after this time should consult with a medical professional.