Carrying on from my last blog post, I am going to continue on with the theme of discussing the reasons that put people off having laser eye surgery. When I ask people to give me the reasons that put them off having laser eye surgery, one of the most common responses is ‘ the thought of having it done ’. On questioning them further, I typically get responses like:
- The idea of someone poking around in my eye.
- The thought of needles in my eye.
- The thought of a laser burning my eye. The smell of the eye burning.
- The fact that they think laser eye surgery is painful.
- The thought of someone cutting their eye open.
Well to be honest if any of the above were true, then I think it would be understandable that people would put off having laser eye treatment. At least I certainly wouldn’t want to have it done!
Let’s try and put a few things straight and talk about whether any of the above fears are justifiable.
- Firstly there is no poking around inside your eye and your eye is not opened up as I think some people imagine. A very thin layer is separated from the surface of your eye for a few minutes and then gently replaced back. Your eye is not being cut open or anything anywhere near as drastic as that. The layer that is separated from the surface of your eye is far smaller than a millimetre. Imagine removing an incredibly thin layer of skin from your arm. It’s not the same as actually cutting into and opening up your arm.
- Are there needles involved in the laser eye surgery procedure? Absolutely NOT! Your eyes are numbed using eye drops, which at the very worst sting for about 10-20 seconds. I have had the drops in myself and it’s no worse than getting a little bit of shampoo in your eye whilst having a bath or shower.
- The thought of a laser burning my eye: I have heard people talk about the smell of the eye burning as a reason to put them off laser eye surgery. Well the first thing to mention is that the laser does not burn anything. Contrary to what most people believe the laser beam is actually cold. Occasionally there is a smell resembling burning during surgery, but this is a smell that is given off by the actual laser machine. It is NOT the burning of the surface of your eye. The actual lasering of the eye is completely painless and in fact you won’t even feel it at all. It is just like having a light shone in your eye for a short period of time. The higher your prescription the longer the laser is applied. For every 1 dioptre (this is what eye prescriptions are measured in) the laser is applied for 10 seconds. So if your prescription is -3.00, then the laser is only applied for 30 seconds!
- The fact that laser eye surgery hurts: The laser eye surgery procedure does not hurt at all. Some people report mild pressure on their eye but that really is it.
- The thought of a blade being used during surgery: I think people envisage their surgeon coming towards their eye with a knife and no wonder they get nervous! Nothing could be further from the truth – You won’t even see a blade. The surgical blade (also called microkeratome) is incorporated into the equipment. As the machine is so close to your eye it will just look like a black blur. You wouldn’t even know a blade was being used if you weren’t told! If the idea of a blade really does put you off, then you should consider Intralase which is a bladeless procedure.
So I think you can see that what people imagine about laser eye surgery is nearly all untrue and the procedure itself is quick, painless and very straight forward. To read about what to expect after laser eye surgery then you can read the guides I have written on Lasik recovery and Lasek recovery. If there is anything you are still not sure about or have any questions you want answering, why not leave a comment on this blog or ask it in our laser eye surgery forum.
Thanks for reading,
Tim
