Laser eye surgery has been proven over its 23 years of existence. Over 36,000,000 LASIK procedures have been performed throughout the world, and nobody has lost a watch from having the procedure. The risk related to laser eye surgery is less than that associated with contacts, and as far as infection goes, it represents a little one-time risk, instead of the ongoing chance of infection with contacts.

Laser eye surgery's safety has been attempted and assessed by government and military organisations like the US Navy, the Australian Army, and NASA. Their investigations show that blade-free LASIK (ie. developing a corneal flap having a femtosecond laser) is protected and approved for the SAS, Top Gun pilots and NASA astronauts.

Professional sportspeople also have used laser eye surgery to make sure their finest performance on the field. Including sportspeople such as Padraig harrington and David Beckham, whose vision correction procedures undoubtedly allows them to perform at their peak.

Even with this kind of exceptional safety profile however, lasek is still surgery, and therefore will invariably have the possibility for complications. Such complications are generally rare and try to manageable though, that we will discuss below.

Enhancement:
LASIK surgery is performed on the eye, a natural tissue. Although the procedure is very accurate, there is an average 3-4% risk the correction will be decent although not absolutely optimal. In these cases, It's my job to wait around A few months to guarantee the stability of the residual glasses prescription, then lift the same corneal flap created earlier to "fine tune" the procedure's outcome. These enhancements are minor corrections, and are therefore better. An excellent benefit of lasek is the fact that, although highly stable in the long run, should anyone experience any refraction shift in their vision, enhancements like these can be at just about any time in the near future.

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Chance of infection:
As i've already explained, the rate of infection due to laser eye surgery procedures is very low, much less than infections caused by contact lenses. Corneal scarring caused by infection occurs less than this, for a price of less than One in 20,000. Of course this occurs, it's correctible with a corneal transplant. Like a corneal subspecialist, I've performed a lot of corneal transplants, but have never had to do one for this reason.

Corneal flap issues:
Blade LASIK introduced the chance of creating an abnormal flap (such as a buttonhole flap). However, blade-free (femtosecond laser) LASIK eliminates this risk altogether, and for this reason enhanced safety, it is the only type of lasek I perform.

With blade-free lasek, inflammation under the flap can occasionally occur (this is called diffuse lamellar keratitis), and may be managed by an increase in anti-inflammatory eye drops. If cells on the cornea grow (epithelium - a very rare occurence), they'll generally absorb and disappear. When they ever proliferate, the flap could be lifted and the offending cells removed.

Dry Eye:
Temporary dry eye phenomenon is created once the nerves from the cornea are cut, which occurs during lasek. It can take about 3 months of these nerves to regenerate. During this time I'd advise replenishing the tear film with lubricating drops.

Ectasia:
Ectasia is fortunately a very rare occurrence in which laser vision correction causes the cornea being too pliable, and therefore bulges forward over time. Extreme cases of ectasia have been corrected by corneal transplantation, however fortunately pre-operative screening of patients has increased in accuracy, meaning candidates unsuitable for lasek are nearly always identified prior to the procedure. Recent advances in the manner of collagen cross-linking also permits us to stop this rare complication from progressing further, and lets the individual maintain their vision while avoiding a cornea transplant. I am one of few eye surgeons around australia who is experienced within this and may perform it during my surgery, however have never required to perform it on my own patients.

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Glaring and Halos:
Following the procedure, patients sometimes see starbursts or halos around lights in the night. This really is usually due to the corneal flap dehydrating and stabilising, which is rare to determine this phenomenon persist longer than in regards to a week.

Quality of vision:
The majority of patients believe their vision after lasek is better than their vision with glasses or contacts prior to the operation. There is always a really small minority who experience visual quality less crisp than their pre-operative vision, but this situation is generally rectified by laser enhancement.

Laser eye surgery's proven and maintained history of safety, accuracy and efficiency make it the clear strategy to becoming independent from glasses or contact lenses. Recent advances in blade-free femtosecond LASIK takes this to new levels, and surely represents the height of eye surgery and vision correction.

Lasek continues to be tried and tested over its 23 years of existence. Over 36,000,000 LASIK procedures happen to be performed throughout the world, and nobody has lost a watch from getting the procedure. The risk related to lasek is less than that related to contact lenses, and as far as infection goes, it represents a small one-time risk, instead of the ongoing risk of infection with contacts.

Laser eye surgery's safety continues to be attempted and assessed by government and military organisations such as the US Navy, the Australian Army, and NASA. Their investigations reveal that blade-free LASIK (ie. developing a corneal flap with a femtosecond laser) is protected and approved for the SAS, Top Gun pilots and NASA astronauts.

Professional sportspeople also provide used lasek to ensure their finest performance on the field. Including sportspeople such as Tiger Woods and David Beckham, whose vision correction procedures undoubtedly enables them to perform at their peak.

Despite having this kind of exceptional safety profile however, laser eye surgery is still surgery, and for that reason will invariably have the potential for complications. Such complications are usually rare and always manageable though, that we will discuss below.

Enhancement:
LASIK surgical treatment is performed around the eye, a natural tissue. Though the procedure is very accurate, it comes with an average 3-4% risk the correction is going to be decent although not absolutely optimal. In these cases, I usually wait around 3 months to ensure the stability from the residual glasses prescription, then lift the same corneal flap created earlier to "fine tune" the procedure's outcome. These enhancements are minor corrections, and are therefore better. A great benefit of laser eye surgery is that, although highly stable in the long term, should anyone experience any refraction shift in their vision, enhancements like these can be at just about any amount of time in the future.

lasik surgery

Chance of infection:
As mentioned before, the rate of infection due to lasek procedures is extremely low, far less than infections caused by contacts. Corneal scarring resulting from infection occurs less than this, for a price of less than One in 20,000. Even if this occurs, it's correctible with a corneal transplant. Like a corneal subspecialist, I've performed a lot of corneal transplants, but have never had to perform one because of this.

Corneal flap issues:
Blade LASIK introduced the risk of creating an abnormal flap (like a buttonhole flap). However, blade-free (femtosecond laser) LASIK eliminates this risk altogether, and due to this enhanced safety, it's the only type of lasek I perform.

With blade-free lasek, inflammation under the flap can occasionally occur (this is known as diffuse lamellar keratitis), and may be managed by a rise in anti-inflammatory eye drops. If cells on the cornea grow (epithelium - a very rare occurence), they'll generally absorb and disappear. When they ever proliferate, the flap can be lifted and also the offending cells removed.

Dry Eye:
Temporary dry eye phenomenon is made when the nerves from the cornea are cut, which occurs during lasek. It can take about 3 months for these nerves to regenerate. During this period I would advise replenishing the tear film with lubricating drops.

Ectasia:
Ectasia is fortunately a very rare occurrence in which laser vision correction causes the cornea being too pliable, and therefore bulges forward over time. Extreme cases of ectasia happen to be corrected by corneal transplantation, however fortunately pre-operative screening of patients has increased in accuracy, meaning candidates unsuitable for laser eye surgery are almost always identified prior to the procedure. Recent advances in the manner of collagen cross-linking also permits us to stop this rare complication from progressing further, and lets the individual maintain their vision while avoiding a cornea transplant. I am among few eye surgeons around australia who is experienced within this and may carry it out during my surgery, however I have never required to carry it out on my own patients.

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Glaring and Halos:
After the procedure, patients sometimes see starbursts or halos around lights at night. This is usually because of the corneal flap dehydrating and stabilising, which is rare to see this phenomenon persist longer than in regards to a week.

Quality of vision:
Nearly all patients feel that their vision after lasek is preferable to their vision with glasses or contacts before the operation. There is always a very small minority who experience visual quality less crisp than their pre-operative vision, but this case is usually rectified by laser enhancement.

Laser eye surgery's proven and maintained track record of safety, accuracy and efficiency make it the clear treatment for becoming independent from contacts or glasses. Recent advances in blade-free femtosecond LASIK takes this to new levels, and surely represents the height of eye surgery and vision correction.