Lasik Eye

This story is for my friends and also my family who wonder what it is like to go through a Lasik vision correction operation. I had shared my experiences with some other friends at work that have also had this procedure done, and there are enough variations to give insight to those who are trying to choose between different Lasik physicians or different Lasik centers.

First of all, my Lasik operation was scheduled for 3 PM in the afternoon, which was fine with me. One of the directions for the possible patient that has just had a Lasik operation was to go to sleep as soon as possible, in order for the healing process to begin quickly.Usually by the end of the afternoon I am too tired after working all day to be very nervous. Well, usually…

I had been there only for a few minutes when I was called into a preparing room to get ready for the Lasik operation, and to get instructions on how to care for my eyes once the Lasik vision correction has been done. They offered me some pills like Ativan, which is a mild sedative just to keep me calm during the Lasik operation. The lasers themselves monitor any head or eye movement and turn themselves off when it occurs, so it isn’t that the sedative is for anything other than psychological reasons. I took it anyway. All of my friends at work also took it, though none of us really felt any different than we did before. Apparently it is a mild, but good sedative.

My eyes were prepared for the Lasik operation by being dosed with some eye numbing drops and some kind of medication. I cannot be absolutly sure of the other pre-operative steps, as I think I was trying hard not to think about either Lasik or my eyes. Maybe the sedative was a bit stronger than I imagined it was.

At this point I was leed into another room for some time, where I sat back,relax a little bit, listened to the piped-in music, and awaited my turn in the Lasik operating room. There were two other persons waiting with me in this room, so apparently my doctor different setup for his Lasik patients than my colleagues. Both were alone in their pre-op rooms until they were escorted into the room where the Lasik operation was actually performed.

As to the Lasik operation itself, all of us have similar memories from this procedure. Each of us felt a little pressure when the various Lasik implements were used on our eyes, though there wasn’t any real discomfort or pain. There was a blurring of vision for the eye being worked on, but the real feeling was mainly audio - the clicks and the whirring of the machine. One of my colleagues also remembered a smell, somewhat reminiscent of hair burning. There may have been a slight smell during my Lasik operation, but it wasn’t significant enough for my attention to be really focused on it.

After a short amount of time, my Lasik physician said he was done and that I had been a good and calm patient. In all of our Lasik experiences, the procedure itself was much easier than all of our worries about it beforehand. I hope this helps those of you considering having a Lasik operation done.

Improving your vision with a Lasik operation could be one of the greatest gifts you could get for yourself. Anyway, your eyes are precious, they deserve it!  It is important to entrust the Lasik procedure to a good doctor that you really trust and have confidence in.

Let’s begin with three factors that should not be the sole reason you select a doctor for the Lasik operation. The location of the office is not particularly verry important, and a number of persons travel long distances to have the Lasik operation done, for a professional doctor will only need to be visited two or three times. In the same time, cost or the type of Lasik technology that is used should not be the sole factor. The range in surgical skill for a Lasik procedure does vary, and there is the old saying “you get what you pay for.” A true sentice by the way! Further, though the newer types of Lasik operations do have their plusses; many eye doctors in a large metropolitan area often offer two or three Lasik different reading.

There are many ways to determine which is the good doctor for you in your area. One of the important qualities to look for in a good Lasik physician is someone who can accurately assess your situation, and advise you if Lasik is even a good choice for you and your lifestyle. A physician that takes the time to discuss and explain your own physical condition and situation with you is a good indicator that this is a Lasik physician that you can rely on.

Look for a Lasik doctor which has a solid and good reputation in the area, and has a good track record. A physician that advertises in a magazine is not a sufficient recommendation to put your trust in that doctor, and needs more investigation before agreeing to have him do your operation. Sometimes a Lasik center with a large advertising campaign and discounted prices may be indicating that the quality of the surgery is not good, and this could be a red flag to avoid that kind of center.

A good Lasik doctor should be involved in the entire Lasik procedure. As mentioned above, he should take time to assess your particular case,talk about this kind of operation, discuss it with you. Not only should he do the exam, but he should also perform most or all of the preoperative exam, and also should meet with you personally to monitor the success of the process at the dates for checkup. There are a lot of stories from some Lasik centers of the patients never seeing the physician again after the operation until they complained of some particular problem.

Make sure the physician is honest in their assessment of the general Lasik operation, and his track record in particular. Ask for examples of patients that the physician dissuaded from having the Lasik procedure, and why. Ask how many Lasik procedures the doctor has done in total, and how many in the last two or three years. An experienced surgeon should have performed in the neighborhood of at least 1000 Lasik operations, with at least 500 of those in the last two or maybe three years.

Use these kind of questions as a starting point to really investigate the Lasik centers,hospitals in your town area, and even the highly recommended ones in nearby major metropolitan areas. It will be time well invested, and the first step to a clearer and beautiful future.

If you have time to read any of the message boards or chat rooms on the Internet about Lasik operation, you will wonder how anyone could get the courage to schedule a Lasik procedure, and why they would really want it. The various Lasik centers sound anywhere from impersonal to something similar to Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory, and the Lasik procedure itself sounds surreal. It really seems like the only people that would get this kind of procedure are those with such bad vision that they cannot get out of bed without their glasses on.

Well, let’s talk about why I chose Lasik. First of all,sad,but true, my vision was not good but not terrible either. I couldn’t actually go to movies and see well enough to enjoy the film without glasses, but I need glasses to drive in order to read the street signs far enough away to act on the info. So for me, Lasik was not really  necessary, but I figured would trully simplify my life. I am outdoors very frequently, mountain biking, backpacking, and climbing hills . Glasses do not last long with me, and I am frequently grinding into the dirt which is not the best situation for contact lenses. For these kind of reasons, Lasik looked very tempting.

This paragraph above might make you think I am a “manly person” so why would I be afraid of a tiny Lasik procedure ? Well, ok, technically Lasik does not use a scalpel but rather a microkeratome blade, but it is still a sharp object approaching my eye as part of the Lasik operation. In our days, Lasik physicians can get a laser to cut the flap in the eye, which is more than a little better than a sharp blade. Anyway, I had too many spills in my life to think any sharp object nearing my eye was a great idea, even under the skilled hands of a Lasik physician.

After talking with four independent Lasik physicians, they each assured me that a 26 year old guy in nearly normal health with moderate nearsightedness was one of the very best candidates for a successful Lasik operation. I decided to schedule my Lasik operation with the one that had the best track record, and coincidentally took the most time to explain everything about this thing to me.

The Lasik surgery was not at all painful, though I accepted nearly everything they offered to give me comfort. The single strange thing I really remember about the Lasik procedure itself was some kind of a smell, something vaguely like hair burned. I suppose that was my eye. I am kind of glad they didn’t tell me to expect that before the Lasik operation, I am not sure I would have gone in.

After some years, I guess I was a nearly perfect Lasik good client, as my eyes now have 20/20 vision and have remained stable long after the Lasik procedure. I say that if you are a good possible candidate for a Lasik vision correction operation, grab all your forces and go for it.

The big results of Lasik surgery have been improved by research adding the latest methods, such as Wavefront technology. This kind of technology gives a Lasik physician the great ability to see and accurately map even slight variations in the surface of the eye. This gives the Lasik physician the ability to accurately tailor a Lasik procedure to the individual, and result in even clearer vision.

Behind Wavefront technology was a great concept originally developed by astronomers, in order to indicate if a mirror or a lens had slight imperfections in it. It is trully  important in astronomy to get close perfect optics in order to clearly see the small light sources million of miles away in the universe. In the 1970s a sensor was created to electronically check these surfaces, and a type of this sensor is now used in the Wavefront guided Lasik operations.

The principal idea to use this sensor or to apply this technique, to the field of ophthalmology and later to the specific area of Lasik vision correction, has begun in Germany. The physician Josef Bille began this by using the sensor in his practice, and this maked others to refine the sensor and how it is used and to apply it to Lasik technology. In the 90′ they improved sensor, with greater accuracy and speed, was announced to the Lasik laser manufacturers. This allowed the companies that manufacture the Lasik equipment to develop tools using the Wavefront concept for each of their own laser systems.

The FDA was the first that approved the first Wavefront guided Lasik vision correction system for general use. Initially, the Wavefront sensor makes a map of the eye’s imperfections, and this map is sent to the laser that is used in the Lasik vision correction portion of the procedure. This allows for precise eye alteration in order for Lasik to present a verry good vision correction possible.

The Wavefront technology used in Lasik can be described very easy at an informal level. A small, flat sheet of light is passed through the eye, reflected off of the retina, and passed back through the eye and is captured by the Wavefront machine. If the eyes were perfect, the light would return as a flat sheet and be captured that way by the Lasik machine. Anyway, imperfections changes the way that the light returns, and this is detected by the Wavefront part of the Lasik process.

A number of these small, flat sheets of light are sent into each eye from various directions and the results returned generated a three dimensional map of the eye to be used in the Lasik vision correction procedure. In addition to the usual known problems of astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness, there are more than 70 other patterns that are known and can possibly be corrected.

All this information generated by the Lasik sensor is converted by software into a set of directions to be carried out by the Lasik excimer laser. Ask your own doctor about this exciting advance in Lasik vision correction, and see if this procedure is the one right for you!

Someone that want to try a Lasik procedure to improve their vision has 2 must have responsibilities: first thing choose a good surgeon possible, and understanding and keeping up with eye care after the Lasik (laser) operation is done. Most Lasik (laser) procedures are very easy, and more than 89% of the patients are happy with their improved vision and none said that had any permanent side effects. Part of this success is due to good care treatment at home once the Lasik procedure is finish.
Lasik Eye Treatment

The first step in having a really good care after a Lasik procedure is that you must understand exactly what is directed by the Lasik physician. The posible Lasik patient should be given a good understanding of the entire process when they first visit a Lasik center to interview the physician and the crew. On the day of the procedure, a person of the staff should carefully go over exactly what steps should be done to encourage optimal eye health and healing after the Lasik operation.

The first thing that the posible patient should ask is what kind of side effects are to be expected after the Lasik procedure, how long they should last, and which symptoms should be promptly told to the Lasik physician or member of the crew. Many symptoms, such as halos around lights or fluctuating vision are to be expected but they aren’t a cause of panic. You cand always ask the staff about any postoperative symptoms that are maybe unclear, to make sure that they are perfect understood.

Every Lasik physician has their own recommended procedures for their future patients; here is a list of usual suggestions that most Lasik centers recommend. First of all, get rest, get some sleep as soon as possible after the Lasik procedure has finished. This gives a very good boost to the entire healing process. Second of all, avoid any contact, bumping, or rubbing of the eyes for at least 7 days after the Lasik procedure. Most Lasik centers have some kind of eye guards to wear at night when they sleep, to prevent patients from rubbing their eyes.

Third thing to do is to try to avoid eyestrain for some days after the Lasik procedure. It is tempting to try to read all of the words and signs that were previously blurry, but try to avoid this temptation at least for the large part. If any light sensitivity or glare is noticed, wear dark sunglasses for 7 days until this problem resolves itself. Some usual Lasik side effects are temporary halos around lights, especially when viewed at night, but this is not a serios problem.

It is important to keep the eyes well lubricated in the days following a Lasik procedure. Each Lasik physician will give eye drops to help this, and the posible patient should be especially aware of this before going to rest. A Lasik operation may increase eye dryness but only temporarily, and during sleep this may make the eyelid stick slightly to the eye. When the posible patient wakes up, opening the eyelid is equivalent to rubbing the eye. It’s very important that the physician is notified if this thing happens, for there are other varieties of eye drops that will solve this kind of problem.

Taking these simple steps will give nearly all Lasik posible patients an easy postoperative experience without any serios problems.