How Lasik helps You Improve Vision

Wearing contacts or glasses is a part and parcel of many a person’s life. This however, can be very cumbersome to people who are involved in some physical activities. Lasik treatment has helped many such people get out of their need for glasses or contacts. Lasik treatments have helped these people in eliminating the cause for their vision problems thereby getting rid of the need for using contacts or glasses.

Lasik procedures are getting more advanced by the day. There are different methodologies that are being used for Lasik surgery. While many doctors prefer one or the other mode of treatment, some will give you the option of any one or will suggest the one that is the best for your treatment. These days Wavefront Lasik treatment is the most frequently used method of Lasik surgery. The other methods include Orbscan technology and diagnostic workstation.

Lasik is aimed at improving your vision and the outcome of the treatment is quite instantaneous. Using an instrument called microkeratome, a flap is shaped in the cornea. This can alternatively be created with the help of a laser that is more accurate and provides better results.

Once the flap is reflected, the inner portion of the cornea is exposed and based on certain pre-surgical assessments the tissue is reshaped using an excimer laser. Cool ultraviolet rays are used by the laser to reshape the tissue. This reshaping procedure will help in changing the way lights falls on the retina thereby enabling the person to see much better than before. Once the reshaping is complete, the flap is replaced and it takes up the shape of the restructured layer.

Lasik procedure is done on an outpatient basis and is very quick and quite painless. The patient is awake and alert during the procedure and can actually walk out of the operating room. The eye is anesthetized during the procedure by using some drops prior to beginning the surgery. If the patient is highly anxious and tense, a mild sedative is given to calm the patient. The patient is made to lie down and a device holds the eyelid from closing down when the surgery is in progress. This device also holds a suction unit that helps in maintaining the pressure in the eye. The procedure is usually completed within 30 minutes from the beginning.

If the surgeon is using a laser, the amount of tissue removed is regulated by the computer which has the exact measurements calculated in the assessment stage. The only thing that the patient perceives is the clicking sound made by the laser and an acidic odor caused by the removal of tissue. The laser is under the control of the doctor and the procedure can be halted midway if necessary. The doctor can also take up treatment of both the eyes by just giving some gap in between. But, many patients would rather have treatment for the other eye by giving a gap of a week or more in between.

Wavefront technology is highly sought by many Lasik surgeons as it gives the best outcome. This is more so because the entire procedure can be customized to the individual’s eye and requirements. This customization improves the results got from the procedure. Even the vision improvements are much better in comparison to other techniques. A comparison between Wavefront and other methods of Lasik showed that around 90-94% of patients undergoing treatment with wavefront had 20/20 vision in comparison to 80% of patients having the same vision improvement with other techniques. Many doctors also favor Wavefront procedure as the risk of complications arising after treatment is much lesser and if any, are more of a temporary nature.

One advantage of using the diagnostic workstation is that a much wider area can be covered at once as the pupil is dilated to twice its usual size. With Orbscan Technology, you can be accurately evaluated whether you are an ideal candidate for treatment. Orbscan has better diagnostic value in accurate assessment of the patient.
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