Understanding How LASIK Works
If you wear lenses or spectacles, then your ophthalmologist has most probably informed you about LASIK. In fact, if you’re reading this article, you’re probably considering the surgery but are just not very sure. You’ve probably heard of LASIK as:
• a fast and painless surgery
• the best alternative to contact lenses and spectacles, or even,
• a one-time corrective surgery for perfect vision
While all of this is true, there is a lot more to LASIK surgery that you need to know before you decide to go through with it. And you’ve come to the right place. This website will provide you with all the information you need on LASIK and will explain to you in easy terms what LASIK does, whether you require it, and what you need to be aware of if you decide to go under the laser.
How do we see?
LASIK is a surgery that corrects refractive errors, much like your spectacles or lenses. In order to understand the surgery, you need to first understand how you see. You see an object, when light rays reflected by the object enter the cornea or the outermost layer of your eye. The cornea then bends (refracts) the light rays in order to focus them on the retina of your eye. The retina is a tissue lining the back of the eye ball. The rays form an image on the retina. A refractive error occurs when there is a flaw in the shape of the cornea and it cannot focus the rays properly on the retina creating a blurred image. Spectacles, contact lenses as well as LASIK surgery, correct this error, in different ways. In LASIK it is done by surgically reshaping the cornea.
How LASIK works
LASIK is the abbreviation of Laser-Assisted In situ Keratomileusis. Imagine viewing a cross-section of your eye, seeing the layers front to back. During LASIK, a blade device called the microkeratome or a laser device called a laser keratome is used to cut a hinged flap in the cornea. This flap is folded back revealing the middle layer of the cornea called the stroma. Parts of the stroma are then vaporized with what is known as an excimer laser in order to reshape it. (The surgeon will know beforehand how much reshaping is required) The flap is then placed back on the cornea and allowed to heal. The entire procedure takes no more than 20 minutes.
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