Posts Tagged ‘cornea’
As one of the most common outpatient vision correction procedures, Lasik surgery is a relatively straightforward process with the treatment itself taking only minutes. Los Angeles eye surgeons and surgeons in the world perform Lasik surgery on approximately one million eyes every year and it is no different than any other surgery
Laser Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis (Lasik) is intended to eliminate or reduce dependency on eyeglasses or contacts. Beverly Hills Lasik surgery has become more and more popular as the decades progress but still Laser Eye Surgery is not for everyone. Alternative surgery procedures like PRK and Lasik are excellent alternatives to glasses and contact lenses for patients suffering from myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism as well as a wide range of other vision conditions.
A procedure like this can permanently reshape the cornea, which is the clear covering of the front of the eye with the help of a laser. Most patients do not report any problems after the Los Angeles Lasik laser surgery. There are a wide variety of different optical lasers used in this procedure but common for all of them is that the laser will remove some tissue from the cornea.
Patients who have reached or are close to reaching the age of 40 should consider that their vision may be affected by conditions that cannot be treated with Lasik surgery, such as presbyopia. Patients with certain medical conditions or taking certain medications should not choose Lasik surgery because of the implication that it might give, according to top professional Beverly Hills Lasik surgeons. If you’re pregnant or nursing you will fall out of the ideal candidate classification and as it is advised to wait before considering laser vision correction. Patients with a condition called keratoconus are ineligible for the procedure and so are patients who have high levels of refractive error. Both parties are at a slightly higher risk for post-surgical astigmatism.
Laser vision correction surgery is an extraordinary procedure that has helped thousands of people see better and is an exciting opportunity for anyone who suffers from vision problems. Lasik surgery is the preferred vision correction surgery these days, despite its high cost. This type of surgery is however generally not the best option for older patients suffering from age-related conditions. Often these conditions can’t be treated with the Lasik procedure. To learn more about Lasik and laser eye surgery, contact you local Lasik eye specialists to learn more.
Andrew I. Caster, M.D. has performed over fourteen thousand procedures to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Dr. Caster is widely considered one of the most knowledgeable Lasik surgeons in the United States. Los Angeles Magazine selected Dr. caster as “The Best Lasik Surgeon in Los Angeles” and W Magazine listed him as one of two top Lasik surgeons in the United States. For more information please visit: http://www.castervision.com/
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/what-makes-a-good-lasik-candidate-1530208.html
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There have been five major advances in LASIK since it was first invented:
1. The use of eye trackers – The first LASIK procedures required the patient to fixate on a light and that was what was used to center the treatment. The invention of eye tracker technology allows the laser to be programmed to define the location of the pupil and when the treatment is started even if the eye moves, the laser stays centered on the pupil which gives treatments that are correctly centered over the optical portion of the eye.
2. Small spot scanning lasers – The first lasers and ones still in use today use a “broad beam” where the treatment laser beam is as large as the optical zone being treated and astigmatism is corrected by varying the shape of this beam. Although this is effective, there are limitations to the types of shapes that can be created, and the quality of the ablation is limited to the quality of the laser beam. Newer lasers use small scanning spots to shape the front of the eye, and with much lower energy per laser pulse.
3. Wavefront optimized ablations – Originally LASIK was done with a mathematical model to flatten the center of the cornea to correct the refractive error. It was learned that this creates halos, glare, and other optical aberrations that are unwanted, especially in patients with larger pupils. The newer lasers can correct the refractive error but maintain a more natural or prolate shape due to more advanced algorithms for the correction.
4. All laser LASIK – All laser LASIK was initially done using a microkeratome that employs a disposable razor blade to cut the corneal flap, which is the first step in traditional LASIK. By using a femtosecond laser, Intralase, and then others were able to create a flap using a laser which is safer, more predictable, and gives more reproducible results. The razor portion is still used by many centers today, but is the cause of most of the risks of the LASIK procedure.
5. Thin flap LASIK – Initially all LASIK was done with a flap of about 180 microns. This is about 20% of the thickness of the structural cornea (the epithelial skin not counted) in most cases and the thickness was unpredictable due to use of the blade (see reason 4 above). Sometimes the flap was over 200 microns. This can weaken the cornea and lead to complications. The all laser method can make thinner flaps, and over time doctors have moved to “thin flap LASIK” with flaps of about 100 microns and in some cases 90 microns which is half as thick as the original flaps.
BONUS IMPROVEMENT: Although not technically a change in Denver LASIK itself, the diagnostic capabilities have improved since the early days of LASIK making the imaging of the cornea more robust with technologies such as OCT, Wavefront analysis, and posterior surface topography. All of these changes have contributed to making an improvement in LASIK. Recently we have begun to look at corneal hysteresis (CH) which is a measure of corneal strength.
Dr. Dishler is the first doctor to perform LASIK in Colorado, the first doctor to offer blade free LASIK in Colorado, and is a consultant, lecturer, and inventor. He is involved with several FDA studies and answers questions related to laser vision correction online.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/the-five-most-important-improvements-in-lasik-since-it-was-invented-1514807.html
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Lasik eye surgery is used to certain visual ailments such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. It aims to make better visual sight through permanently reshaping the cornea. It is a procedure done with the use of laser by ophthalmologists. Roughly six million Americans have gone through Lasik although it never guarantees 20/20 vision. Its long term safety is still unknown. But according to the report by the Ophthalmology Societies, around 95% of their patients are pleased with their new vision.
There is a list of compiled complications of Lasik surgery.
- It causes dryness of the eye. Experiencing dry eye is the most frequent complication related to Lasik. Even The US Food and Drug Administration warns about permanently experiencing dry eyes.
- It results to visual quality loss. Some Lasik patients were reported to experience trouble seeing details in dim lights. At times, some even experience visual distortions.
- After Lasik, the cornea isn’t capable of complete healing. It is reported to weaken one’s cornea because of damaging collagen bands which provide protection to the eye.
- Long term consequences are associated with Lasik surgery. Lasik patients are prone to cataracts. As such, patients are more exposed to undergoing repeat cataract surgeries.
- It isn’t advisable for patients to undergo bilateral simultaneous Lasik surgery. The surgery being performed on the same day puts the patients at risk of vision loss in both eyes.
- After Lasik, there are more serious complications which may arise. There were several after-Lasik complications reported such as inflammation resulting in corneal haze, flap dislocation and retinal detachment.
- It doesn’t completely remove the need for glasses. Still, Lasik does not ensure getting rid of reading eyeglasses by the time patients reach the age of 40. As the effectiveness of Lasik decreases each year, Lasik patients are more likely to use eyeglasses again.
- Until now, the real result of Lasik complications is not fully determined. It was recorded that FDA allowed Lasik manufacturers not to disclose the results of clinical trials.
- After Lasik, treatment options are limited. Lasik treatments are permanent and unalterable.
- There are still safer options instead of Lasik. Eyeglasses and contact lens are still the safest methods to improve vision.
At present, the Food and Drug Administration is conducting a study which aims to determine the number of patients who experience the harmful effects which Lasik Surgery may cause. It is expected to be completed by 2012. Just recently, FDA sent out warning letters to 17 Lasik surgery centers for not giving full reports on the unfavorable effects of Lasik. Because of the reported negative after-effects by some Lasik patients, FDA will undergo a series of inspections to some centers for monitoring.
The price of Lasik ranges from $1000 to $5000 today. It is rather expensive. However, there are several Lasik financing options available, which is not a common knowledge. Generally, there is a very high percentage of the number of patients satisfied with the Lasik result. You must contact an ophthalmologist if you believe you are ready and able to undergo the Lasik procedure.
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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/is-the-lasik-eye-surgery-best-for-you-1490504.html
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Many patients have asked a relatively simple question, “why was LASIK invented at all”? A decade ago very few people even knew the word LASIK, and while the word had become a part of our lexicon, the real reason that doctors choose to do LASIK escapes many peoples understanding. We were one of the first handful of doctors in the United States, and the first to realize the potential benefits of LASIK for vision correction almost fifteen years ago. Since that time there are now over 10,000 LASIK doctors in the USA alone and a multiple of this number worldwide. The reasons for the success of LASIK are numerous but in a sentence it provides rapid, accurate, and relatively painless restoration of vision to a wide range of refractive errors. Patients are able to see like they were wearing contact lenses without all of the bother, cost, inconvenience, and risks of contacts. In general they have better visual function than provided with glasses in the same way that contact lenses are better than glasses for so many reasons.
This simple question is profound, because it touches on an invention that has changed the way in which the world views vision correction and has helped millions of people worldwide to see better without the aid of glasses or contact lenses.
For perhaps millions of years, much of human kind has suffered with vision problems. There are the serious eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma and a myriad of other problems. Beyond this is the simple fact that many people are unable to see clearly at distance, near, or both. This is from the imperfections of the eyeball as a camera and this was greatly helped over that last few hundred years by glasses and more recently in the last 50 years by contact lenses. Although with the advent of lasers, there was a hope that such technology could improve vision, limitations in the nature of the eye had limited laser application to vision correction until the advent of LASIK .
LASIK is a hybrid procedure, that is it involves two steps which together are able to improve vision very rapidly and predictably for patients with ametropias. The first step is to create a potential space for the laser to correct the vision and the second is to do the correction itself. In the early days of LASIK about 15-20 years ago , this potential space was made with a device called a microkeratome. This is a miniature shaver which can peel a thin layer of outer tissue from the cornea which remains attached at the edge or “hinge”. Another laser, the excimer laser then focuses on the freshly cut surface, and removes tissue in a programmed manner to reshape the eye. Finally, the flap is replaced which assumes the contour of the newly shaped cornea beneath it. It is the transfer of the shape combined with covering the treated area with living tissue that makes LASIK so remarkable. Healing occurs at the edge or seam of the flap and the eye barely knows that anything has occurred beneath. The vision is rapidly restored with no significant healing response, which is key to the success of LASIK.
Newer lasers, called femtosecond lasers, are able to make the flap layer more precisely without a cutting blade but fundamentally perform the same function. This all laser approach is a safer and slightly more effective way of restoring vision by LASIK. The current state of the art in LASIK is to use advanced femtosecond lasers such as our Visumax to make a flap, and a wavefront optimized excimer laser like our Zeiss or our Allegretto laser(s) to reshape the cornea. With this type of treatment we have a very low complication rate, and excellent vision results in most cases.
We become complacent very quickly with new technologies but it is a truly amazing and revolutionary accomplishment that in a procedure that lasts only a few minutes , a persons vision can be corrected from a lifetime of limitations.
Dr. Dishler is the first doctor to perform LASIK in Colorado, the first doctor to offer blade free LASIK in Colorado, and is a consultant, lecturer, and inventor. He is involved with several FDA studies and answers questions related to laser vision correction online.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/why-do-doctors-perform-lasik-as-the-most-common-vision-correction-procedure-1488131.html