Will Lasik help You Discard Glasses

Lasik surgery is a wonderful innovation in the field of eye care that has helped millions of people ailing from visual problems better their vision. With this state-of-the-art technology, the patient is conscious and awake while the procedure is performed. The cornea is incised to reflect a flap with the help of a unique type of blade or laser. A hinge is left on the flap by the surgeon to place it back after the surgery.

During the procedure, after the flap is reflected by the surgeon, the middle zone of the cornea called the stroma is reshaped. This is done by utilizing an excimer laser that removes away the tissue irregularities without causing any injury to the surrounding tissues.

Outcome

Several patients undergoing Lasik see an improvement in their sight just after the procedure. Still some others will see some changes in their sight over few days or in some weeks.

Many people will have an improvement in their vision to get 20/20 vision or much improved than that after having Lasik surgery for eye correction. Some people might just get a vision correction of 20/40 or poorer than that. 20/40 can be considered an improvement in many cases and this is the legal limit for many states to allow a person to drive a vehicle but it is definitely not a perfect result. Many patients might need to continue wearing contacts or eyeglasses even after the procedure. But, the prescription for these glasses will be much lesser in comparison to what it was before the procedure.

The vision of some patients who have had Lasik may slowly revert back to their original state and their vision might gradually deteriorate. If such a situation occurs, the surgeon will need to perform a second surgery to bring about perfection of the vision for a second time.

Presbyopia

People who have had success with Lasik treatment may still need to wear glasses once they attain an age of 40 years. This condition is referred to as Presbyopia that usually has an onset in the age group of 38 to 42 years. People with this condition will generally have a clear vision for far off distances but will have trouble seeing objects located close by as well as have trouble in reading. In order to read or to check things, they will hold the paper or the object by stretching their arms when not wearing glasses. They also have a tendency to develop headache when reading or while checking on minute things.

Presbyopia is a natural aging phenomenon and will require glasses for correction of the vision problem. It is due to the inability of the eye to focus upon things up close. This condition is many times confused with hyperopia (farsightedness) although the two are dissimilar. Presbyopia is due to the rigidity of the lens in the eye whereas hyperopia is due to the irregularities of the shape of the eyeball.

Hyperopia can be rectified by undertaking Lasik treatment as this involves the reshaping of the cornea but presbyopia cannot be rectified with Lasik. Currently, there is study going on in trying to develop ways to rectify presbyopia by Lasik surgery.

Astigmatism

If the laser is not used properly during Lasik treatment, it can result in irregularities in the surface of the cornea leading to asymmetry and irregular astigmatism. This can result in symptoms like blurring of the vision, seeing double and visualizing ghost images. This may necessitate the wearing of glasses to rectify this defect or will need a second surgery to correct it.

The Conclusion

People who are opting to go for Lasik should not have any over expectations out of the procedure. There are high chances that you will not get the perfect vision that you anticipated out of the procedure. To top this, there can be rare chances that there may be complications that can actually leave you in a worse situation than before.

There are chances of deterioration of the condition in some patients after the surgery. This kind of a situation might necessitate you to wear contacts or glasses once again or might require a second surgery to make the required alterations to rectify the problem.

Also, it is essential to keep in mind that there are certain age related changes that can occur which has a bearing on your vision. So, even if you had good outcome from the Lasik treatment, you may still need to have glasses for reading and doing work up close. This is of relevance generally to elderly people who might otherwise take up Lasik and expect it to correct all vision problems including conditions like presbyopia. They should also realize that the results got out of Lasik might get affected at a later stage due to the onset of presbyopia.