The Different Types of Corrective Eye Surgery Using Lasers

Now, more than ever, you should seriously be considering corrective eye surgery.

In 2002, the National Eye Institute released a report indicating that more than one million Americans aged 40 and above have permanent vision loss. In addition, about 2.4 million are visually impaired. Sadly, this figure is anticipated to increase to as much as 50% over the coming 30 years.

The good news is that you don't have to just sit down and wait for your vision problem to result into blindness. There is something you can do about it. In fact, many options are available today.

Laser Eye Surgery Options

Following is a short list of corrective eye surgeries that you can consider if you are suffering from vision impairment. Note that you will never really know which eye surgery type is best for you until you subject yourself to proper pre-operative screening.

LASIK. Short for Laser in Situ Keratomileusis, LASIK is a corrective eye surgical procedure that 'sculpts' the cornea through the use of an excimer laser. In this procedure, the top layer of the cornea is pulled back and the subsequent layer is re-shaped to remove the refractive errors causing the vision impairment.

LASEK. This corrective eye procedure is similar to Lasik but its target patients are not the same. It is aimed at patients who have thin corneas. In this procedure, the incision is made only on the outer layer of the cornea. Alcohol is then used to undo the flap, which greatly reduces the risk of damaging the corner. This corrective eye surgery is usually performed on people who suffer from astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness.

Another difference with Lasik is the blade used in the operation. Lasek uses finer blades.

Healing times also differ. While Lasik patients report improved vision as early as a day after the operation, Lasek patients usually have to wait up to two weeks to regain vision.

Epi-Lasik. Invented by Dr. Ioannis Pallikaris of Greece, this corrective eye procedure does not use any blade or alcohol to penetrate the cornea (but the same excimer laser used in Lasik procedures is utilized). After the procedure, a specially-made contact lens is used to maintain the epithelial flap in place. Most patients claim to develop vision good enough for driving in about a week. However, it should be noted that it can take up to six months for the final results to develop.

Lasik with IntraLase. This procedure is similar to traditional Lasik but makes use of a laser instead of a microkeratome blade to create the flap. As such, it is also called 'bladeless Lasik'.