Laser eye surgery procedure

When people are deciding whether they want to have laser eye surgery or not, one of the first things they want to know about, is what exactly the laser eye surgery procedure entails. People have all sorts of preconceptions in their mind and many of these are simply not true! It is difficult to talk exclusively about the laser eye surgery procedure, as the different types of laser eye surgery have variations in their procedure. The main 2 laser eye surgery techniques are Lasik and Lasek. You can read about the Lasik procedure and the lasek procedure in our treatment specific guides.

This guide will try and give you some general information about what to expect with laser eye surgery and also highlight some of the things that people have heard that are not true:

General Information on the laser eye surgery procedure

• The actual procedure itself typically only takes about 10 minutes.
• Prior to the surgery, you will typically see your surgeon for a quick consultation to check you are happy with everything and to answer any final questions you may have.  The surgeon will also check he/she is happy with all the measurements that have been taken previously in the laser eye surgery consultation.
• Once you are taken through for the treatment your eyes are anaesthetised (numbed) using eye drops. There is NO NEEDLE used during the process at all! The drops sting slightly for a 10-20 second that’s all. It is no worse than getting a little bit of shampoo in your eye. You will lie back on a chair similar to what you would at the dentist.
• Once your eyes have been anaesthetised your surgeon then has to access the inner layers of your cornea (outer part of your eye). The way in which he/she does this is different depending on whether you are having Lasik or Lasek. During this process you will feel no pain at all and at most some people report a feeling of mild pressure on their eyes.
• Typically throughout the procedure you will be asked to fixate on a light to help keep your eyes in the right place. Do not worry if your eyes move slightly as modern laser technology has ways of tracking your eye movement so they can take this in to account.
• The actual lasering of the eye only lasts a maximum of one and a half minutes and for most people it is less than a minute. The higher your prescription the longer the laser is applied for. For every one dioptre (this is what prescriptions are measured in) of prescription your eye will be lasered for roughly 10 seconds. Or put another way if your prescription is -5.00 then you will be lasered for 50 seconds. There is no pain at all during the laser application.
• Your eye is kept sterile throughout the procedure. Your surgeon will apply antibiotic eye drops to ensure you are not at risk of any infection.
• Both eyes are done on the same visit, typically doing the right eye first followed by the left.
• Once the procedure had been completed, more eye drops will be put in your eyes to ensure they are free from infection.
• After the procedure you are typically free to go home. You will need someone to drive you home and it is advisable that you wear sunglasses as your eyes will be sensitive to light.
• Your aftercare will begin the next day and your surgeon will set out a series of aftercares for the next 6 months. You will typically be given eye drops to put in yourself to help your eyes heal and to prevent any infection.

 

If there is still anything you are uncertain of why not ask a question in our laser eye surgery forum.