Author: Lucy Barlett

While Maria wanted to undergo laser eye surgery because she was hell bent on improving her looks by discarding her spectacles, Peter was simply bored by the procedure of pushing glasses back up the bridge of his nose for thirty years of his life! So both of them, husband and wife, decided to undergo laser eye surgery. They were determined to equip themselves with all necessary information regarding their duties before and after the surgery and came to me for help. They thanked me for that information after they have recovered. Below is what I had taught them. Consult this guide; it will come to great help if you are also considering a laser eye surgery.

Before Surgery
If you have already taken the decision of undergoing laser surgery, first get your eyes evaluated by a doctor to know whether you make a good candidate at all. In case you wear contact lenses, stop wearing them at least two to three weeks before the consultation to get the right measurements.

Inform the doctor about all your medical history and the medications you are currently on, and the medicines you are allergic to.

After the initial examination is over, the doctor will let you know whether you are good candidate and what you should expect before, during and after the surgery. At this stage, you also ask the doctor questions to clear al your doubts and queries.

On the day before surgery, stop applying the cosmetics like creams, lotions, makeup or perfumes, as the residue of these cosmetics increase the chances of infection. Doctors generally ask to keep the eyelashes clean by scrubbing for a period of time.

An important thing is to arrange for a companion who would accompany you or drive you back to your home after the surgery is over. This is because, after surgery you will be under nerve soothing medication, that will impair your driving ability and also your vision may be slightly blurred just after the surgery.

After surgery
Immediately after the surgery the common sensation that most people experience is an itchy feeling, as if something has gone inside your eyes. The patients tend to rub their eyes in reflex, but be careful not to rub them. Your vision may be slightly hazy and your eyes may water. In some rare cases patients feel pain in their eyes. You may also experience sensitivity to light but that only lasts a matter of a few days. If things do not improve within a week, consult the doctor. You have to revisit your doctor within forty eight hours and the doctor will remove the eye shield, in addition to testing your vision. For at least six months, you have to see the doctor at regular intervals.

At this stage you will be prescribed eye drops to prevent infections. For some time you have to keep away from putting on make up and also refrain from swimming and hot baths.

Author: Chris Chew

The laser eye surgery is just one of the many methods of refractive eye surgery. This form of surgery is a surgical procedure to correct common eye disorders such as, short sightedness, long sightedness, and astigmatism which is a form of vision distortion.

Although there are many methods to correct refractive eye disorders, laser eye surgery is the most advanced method available at the moment. It is also most popular surgery to correct refractive eye disorder in developed countries because of its precision and predictability.

The FDA first approved the excimer laser eye surgery in 1995 for correcting mild to moderate short sightedness or myopia. The approval comes with a restriction that only surgeons trained in laser refractive surgery and in the calibration of such equipment can perform the surgeries. Recently, the laser eye surgery had also been approved for photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), and Keratomileusis (LASIK) surgical procedures.

PRK is an outpatient eye surgical procedure done with local anesthetic eye drops. This form of eye surgery gently reshapes the cornea by removing microscopic amounts of tissue from the outer surface with a cool, computer controlled ultraviolet light. The beam of light is very precise and each pulse can remove 39 millionths of an inch of tissue in 12 billionths of a second.

PRK method is clean, efficient and fast and takes only a few minutes to complete. Patients will usually recover within 1-3 days and be back at their daily routines.

Studies conducted by the FDA showed that about 5 percent of patients continued the need to wear glasses after a PRK surgery and up to 15 percent needed glasses occasionally, such as when one is driving a car or playing golf.

Also, many PRK patients experienced mild corneal haze following the surgery of which there is nothing to worry about as the symptoms are part of the post surgery healing process. Some patients are expected to experienced glare and halos around lights. Again there is no cause for alarm as the symptoms will disappear in due course.

As a result of these studies the FDA along with the Federal Trade Commission issued a letter to the eye-care industry in 1996 to warn that unrealistic advertisment claims, such as “No more eyeglasses forever” and unsubstantiated claims about success rates could be misleading to potential PRK patients and may give rise to expensive medical legal suits.