What You Need To Know About Laser Eye Surgery
If you have an interest in laser eye surgery, there are things you need to know before, during and after the surgery.
Before the surgery
After you make a decision to go ahead with a laser eye surgery, you first of all need a baseline or initial evaluation by your optician to ascertain that you really need a Lasik surgery.
For accurate result in the evaluation:
Stop wearing contact lenses and instead revert to wearing eyeglasses on a fulltime basis. This is important because contact lenses affect the shape of cornea weeks after you stop wearing them. Therefore, it is recommended that you stop wearing them or otherwise, your optician will get an inaccurateor unnatural shape of the cornea. This will then misguide the surgical procedures and as a result, affects the effectiveness of the whole process. According to top opticians and lasik surgeon, it is recommended that if you wear:
• Hard lenses, you should consider not using them at least 4 weeks prior to your baseline evaluation.
• RGP or soft lenses, stop wearing them 3 weeks prior to the evaluation.
• Soft contact lenses, avoid them for at least weeks before the evaluation.
You should also consider telling your optician about your present and past eye conditions and medical history.
Finally, avoid products such as creams, perfumes, makeup, and lotions a day before the surgery. Such products increases may leave debris or residues along the eyelashes and could increase the risk of infections post the surgery.
During the surgery
In most cases, the surgery takes between 20 to 30 minutes. The procedure involves the use of a laser machine with a microscope attached to the machine and a computer monitor/screen. To start the procedure, you will lie on your back in are clining chair and for effectiveness, always lay in the right posture to avoid harming your back or body. After this, the next step involves cleaning your eye and the surrounding areas. To do this, a numbing drop is placed on the eye which then cleans it. During this period, the eyelid must remain open and because humans cannot keep them eyes open naturally, an equipment called lid speculum is used to hold it.
After the surgery
Immediately after the surgery you may feel some form of discomfort in your eye. This may come in the form of a burn, itch or mild pain. To relieve this, your Lasik surgeon may prescribe some painkillers. The eyes may also produce water or teardrop and as a result, your vision may be blurry. However, this should not scare you much because your normal vision and eye condition will be regained in a short time.
After the surgery, also expect an increased urge to rub your eyes. However, despite the urge, do not do it as it could negatively impact the whole process.
Other than mild irritation, blur vision, teardrops and the urge to rub your eyes, if you develop an unusual or worsening symptoms always contact your optician immediately as this could be a sign of infection or problem.
Laser eye surgery, also known as refractive surgery or vision correction surgery, is a procedure performed to correct common vision problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. It involves using a laser to reshape the cornea, the transparent front of the eye, to improve the focus of light on the retina at the back of the eye.
When I had an eye problem, I went to Lasik Beverly Hills. I was very nervous before the surgery, but after a quality consultation with the doctor who did my surgery, I was no longer nervous. The surgery was more than successful and by the way, it was quite fast.