People have been wearing eye-glasses since as early as 13th c. They started from thick and heavy glasses, moved on to a great variety of ugly frames that finally established their status, became fashionable and started competing with contact lenses. Neither of those is really comfortable: eyeglasses keep falling from your nose and cloud over whenever temperature changes from cold to warm. And contact lenses make your eyes sore, tired and irritated after a long time wearing them. Maybe it’s time to change it?
What is refractive eye surgery?
Refractive eye surgery is a type of eye surgery that helps to correct the refractive errors of the eye. With the help of laser and other methods it has become possible to be no longer dependant on corrective lenses – eyeglasses and contact lenses. Successful refractive operations can help to reduce such common vision disorders as myopia or nearsightedness, hyperopia or farsightedness, and astigmatism (distorted vision).
How does it work?
There are a number of ways how the vision can be rectified, namely, flap and photoablation operations; thermal procedures; corneal incision procedures; and implanting. However, the most popular surgical procedure to reach the goal of perfect vision is laser refractive correction of cornea.
Refractive errors occur due to the light rays focusing in front or behind the retina – a light-sensitive layer of cells at the back of an eye – instead of falling directly on it. By the use of laser, the cornea – the transparent tissue covering the colored part of the eye called iris — is reshaped to the extent that it again bends and refracts light rays by making them focus on the retina or very close to it. Doctors claim that the laser operations usually are done with the incredible precision and extraordinary predictability, therefore the greatest majority of cases are extremely successful.
Is it painful?
Eye surgeons recognize that LASIK (Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) and PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) are safe and do not cause pain during operation. The operation is done with a cool (non-thermal) beam of light which is controlled by computer. The surgeon is able to turn it off in case of possible damage; however, there is a slight chance of failure as in any other surgical operation.
Your eyes may feel sore, watery and irritated for a couple of days after the operation but medical help to reduce the pain is almost never necessary.
Risks of eye surgery
Knowing that almost every medical procedure may cause complications, refracted eyes surgery is not an exception. Therefore everyone who is interested in this kind of vision correction should consult with his/her ophthalmologist.
Practice of refracted eyes surgery being very young, nobody knows the exact number of complications that might appear later on. However, studies show the instances of minor disorders after the procedure such as the feeling of dry eyes of glare during the night is from 3% to 5%. The risk of severe incidents though is considered to be less than 1% since there are know cases of blindness caused by LASIK or PRK registered. So are you ready to see a clear picture of the world not through the window of eyeglasses or contact lenses but your own eyes?
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lisa.