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Lasik eye surgery
Lasik eye surgery is a type of laser eye surgery and accounts for over 90% of all procedures that are carried out. The other main type of laser eye surgery is Lasek, which is generally only considered if you are not suitable for Lasik, as the recovery period is considerably longer.
Lasik is an extremely safe, accurate and in most cases painless procedure and has been around a lot longer than most people realise. The first ever Lasik procedure was actually carried out over 20 years ago and since then the procedure has improved both in terms of accuracy and safety.
The aim of Laser eye surgery is to reshape the surface of your cornea (outer part of your eye) to eliminate the prescription in your glasses / contact lenses. Depending on whether you are long sighted, short sighted or have astigmatism, the laser reshapes the eye in a certain way. The following explain this:
- Long sighted prescriptions (plus prescriptions): If you are long sighted, this effectively means that your cornea is too weak to focus the image perfectly onto your retina. Laser eye surgery increases the power of the cornea by increasing its curvature (steepening), which in turn ensures the image is now focussed onto the retina and hence your vision is perfect.
- Short sighted prescriptions (minus prescriptions): If you are short sighted, this effectively means that your cornea is too powerful to focus the image perfectly onto your retina. Laser eye surgery reduces the power of the cornea by decreasing its curvature (flattening), which in turn ensures the image is now focussed onto the retina and hence your vision is perfect.
- Astigmatism: You can read how laser eye surgery corrects astigmatism here.
The way in which the laser reshapes the surface of your eye is exactly the same for both Lasik and Lasek, it is just where the laser is applied that is different. Lasek is considered a surface treatment as the laser is applied to the outer surface of the cornea, whereas during Lasik the inner layers of the cornea are lasered.
The Lasik procedure:
During the Lasik procedure your surgeon creates a flap, which is effectively a thin layer of cornea. Once the flap has been created, it is gently lifted from the surface of your eye, allowing the surgeon to access the inner layers of your cornea that need to be lasered during the procedure. The flap can be created in 2 ways and they are as follows:- Microkeratome (surgical blade): This is what is used in the standard Lasik procedure and works perfectly well in most instances.
- Femtosecond laser: This is also referred to as bladeless Lasik and means the flap is created using a laser instead of a surgical blade. It is a safer method and can give slightly improved visual results. An example of a Femtosecond laser is Intralase, although there are other manufacturers.
After the laser has been applied, the flap is then carefully replaced and smoothed over ensuring a fast recovery from your Lasik eye surgery. Both standard and bladeless Lasik have extremely quick recovery periods and the improvement in vision is almost instant.
You can read more about what to expect during the recovery period at the following link: Lasik recovery. If you are interested in understanding exactly what happens during the procedure, you may find the following guide helpful: What happens during the Lasik procedure?
Why would I not be suitable for Lasik?
The vast majority of people will be suitable for Lasik and the only real reason that you will not be is if you have thin corneas. In order to safely perform laser eye surgery your surgeon needs to ensure that there is sufficient corneal thickness remaining after the flap has been created and the eyes have been lasered. If you have thin corneas and the surgeon calculates that you will have insufficient corneal thickness after the Lasik procedure then you will be advised to have Lasek. No flap is created during Lasek, meaning it can be safely performed on thinner corneas. Depending on your corneal thickness your surgeon may be able to perform Intralase Lasik instead of Lasek, as the flap created during Intralase is thinner than with standard Lasik. To read more on corneal thickness you can read the explanation at the bottom of this guide.The other main reason for having Lasek instead of Lasik is if you are involved with contact sports such as martial arts or boxing. Such activities will mean there is a greater chance of the flap being dislodged, which is a complication that would require surgical intervention. As no flap is created during Lasek, it is perfectly safe to perform such sports once your eyes have healed fully.
Prescription parameters: Lasik eye surgery:
- Short sightedness: -0.75 to -12.00DS.
- Long sightedness: +0.75DS to +5.00DS.
- Astigmatism: Standard treatment: Up to +/- 3.00Dcyl. Wave front: up to +/- 6.00Dcyl.
This is only a rough guide to Lasik parameters as they vary widely from company to company, surgeon to surgeon and depends on the individual being treated.
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