Refractive Error

Nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), and astigmatism are all forms of refractive error. Your cornea bends, or refracts, light to focus on the retina. When your cornea is misshapen the light does not focus properly. Refractive surgery reshapes your cornea, correcting how the light is bent and therefore correcting the focus of the light on the retina.

Types of Laser Vision Correction

You have probably heard of LASIK, but might not be aware that there are two types of LASIK, traditional and custom, and that there are several other forms of laser vision correction including:

• Epi-LASIK
• iLASIK
• LASEK
• InterLase
• PRK

All are performed using an excimer laser. The technique is different for each type of laser surgery, making laser vision correction possible for people who are not good candidates for LASIK.

The Precision of Today’s Laser Vision Correction

Refractive surgery is not new, but it is being constantly improved. Traditional LASIK has been used to safely and effectively correct vision for over twenty years. Custom LASIK is far more precise, and can give you even clearer vision.

In custom LASIK, Wavefront technology is used to map your eyes and guide the laser. Wavefront is also used to guide other types of laser vision correction. Wavefront diagnosis helps your ophthalmologist determine which type of laser surgery is right for you, and can detect high order aberrations that can be made worse by LASIK surgery.

Improving Your Vision and Your Life

Laser vision correction can mean freedom from corrective lenses for many patients. Those with very poor vision can achieve better corrected vision. Improving your eyesight can open up opportunities that you never had before. It may simply make things like swimming and other hobbies easier and more fun. For some, it can make essential activities, such as driving, possible. Getting rid of your glasses or contacts means waking up each morning with clear vision and never again having to worry about losing or damaging your lenses. To learn more about laser vision correction and what you can do to improve your vision please visit eyes.com today.

To learn more about laser vision correction and what you can do to improve your vision please visit Eyes.com today.

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Diagnosis for Traditional LASIK

In Traditional (early) LASIK, a phoropter was used, which is how prescriptions are determined for glasses and contact lenses. A phoropter is a floor-standing device with many lenses. You sit looking through its aperture at the vision chart while someone flips between lenses asking you to read the smallest line of letters you can clearly see.

The information thus gathered is used to correct three vision problems:

• Nearsightedness
• Farsightedness
• Astigmatism.

That meant that Traditional LASIK corrected only these three problems, and only to the same extent that glasses or contacts do it. These three problems are known as the Lower Order Aberrations of your eyes.

Diagnosis for Custom LASIK

In Custom LASIK, Wavefront technology is used for a far more accurate diagnosis. Instead of sitting at a phoropter, you sit at a large system which shines a light into each eye. It then measures and records the nature of the light reflected back from your two eyes.

The computer in this system converts this light data into two colored 3D maps showing the microscopic contours of each eye. These maps contain so much information that a more effective treatment can be based on them, correcting not just the Lower Order Aberrations but also the Higher Order Aberrations.

What Are Higher Order Aberrations?

They are mostly night vision problems:

• Halos around lights
• Starbursts (spiky brightness around light sources)
• Ghosting (faint duplicate images)
• Glare

Traditional LASIK improved visual acuity but left your eyes with their existing Higher Order Aberrations. Therefore they were noticed after treatment as defects in your quality of vision, and referred to as side effects.

Custom LASIK improves visual acuity and reduces or eliminates night vision problems as well.

Pupil Size and Traditional LASIK

Part of screening for good LASIK candidates includes measuring pupil size. If your pupils dilate wider than average they are admitting more light into the eye in dim lighting conditions. If you are asking for Traditional LASIK and already have night vision problems, you would not be a good candidate.

If your pupils are not too extremely large, your eye surgeon might be able to do Traditional LASIK safely. He could use a “blend zone”, using Variable Spot Scanning (VSS) technology to create a larger optical zone, effectively reducing these aberrations and decreasing night glare.

A Custom LASIK procedure would be a better option, as it would treat the existing night vision problems.

At the Laser Eye Center of Silicon Valley in California, you can have Custom LASIK using the best of current Wavefront technology. Dr. Gary Kawesch never compromises on quality. Why not contact experienced LASIK surgeon Dr. Kawesch today and schedule your free consultation?

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/lasik-and-night-vision-1402898.html

What is Custom LASIK?

Custom LASIK is a LASIK treatment designed not only to give you better vision, but to give you the vision that suits you best. This means that it gives you not only optically improved vision, but vision suited to your eyes and to your lifestyle. It is functionally better vision designed specifically for you.

Optical Defects in Vision

The defects in vision that we most often think of, like nearsightedness and farsightedness, are optical defects.  In an ideal eye, the cornea focuses light from objects directly on the retina so we see a clear image.  However, in eyes with nearsightedness, farsightedness, or other optical defects, the image either focuses in front of, behind, or with distortion on the retina. This affects not only your ability to see sharp images like letters on an eye chart, but your perception of contrast, color, and other aspects of the world around you.

Custom LASIK is able to identify and correct more different types of optical defects than regular LASIK, giving you better vision from an objective standpoint.

Functional Customization

In addition, custom LASIK can take into account lifestyle factors in designing a vision solution for you.  We noted above that vision defects can not only reduce the sharpness of your vision, but reduce your sensitivity to contrast and color.  If your job or hobbies depend on your ability to see color or contrast, custom LASIK will improve your vision for those purposes.

In addition, custom LASIK has the ability to address some of the artifacts of regular LASIK, namely the incidence of glare or halos seen when driving at night.  Because these are caused by what are known as higher-order aberrations that cannot be treated and are sometimes caused by regular LASIK, only custom LASIK has the potential to reduce glare or halos seen by all people, potentially even those with large pupils, although this cannot be guaranteed.

Anatomical Customization

Anatomical customization means that your treatment is designed for your eye. The size and shape of all the parts of your eye are assessed and used when designing your vision solution. This is done not only in the reshaping of the cornea, but in the creation of the LASIK flap.  Since LASIK flaps can be created at several thicknesses, this can also be customized to match your eye, as can the diameter of the flap, which is determined not only based on the optical correction necessary, but also on the size of your pupil.

Summary

You may not understand exactly how LASIK works or how all these customizations change the way your procedure is performed.  But what you should understand is that custom LASIK gives better results for you. It gives better results than are possible with contact lenses or glasses.  There is also much evidence that it gives better results than possible for people with uncorrected vision.

If you would like to learn more about custom LASIK and what it might mean for you, visit the website of 20/20 Institute, with offices in Denver, Indianapolis, and Portland.

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RGPs are commonly acknowledged that they provide clearer vision than soft lenses, especially for astigmatism. However, most of the traditional RGPs have a slight gap between the lens edge and the eye surface, in order to allow more oxygen in tears during blinking. It is still this special design which may make people uncomfortable, especially for those with irregular eye surface shapes. In this case, customized RGPs are designed to tackle this dilemma, which have different measurements and lens designs.

For conventional RGPs, an instrument called keratometer is used to measure the cornea’s curvature. And the curvature of conventional RGPs has three elements: the curve of the steepest meridian, the curve of the flattest meridian and the orientation of the flattest meridian. These measurements help doctors or manufacturers determine the curves of RGPs’ back surface. Conventional RGPs always have a central curve and two periphery flatter curves.

Custom RGPs require more complex eye measurements and lens designs. Unlike conventional RGPs, they need the eye’s several thousand points’ curvatures data obtained by a corneal topographer. All these curves are used to form multi-curved lenses, which conform more closely to cornea surface and create smoother point-to-point curvature changes. These measurements and lens designs provide more comfortable fitting for special eyes and also permit more oxygen to directly reach the eyes.

Custom contact lenses offer a change for everyone who has been disappointed by traditional RGPs. Custom RGPs are particularly useful for people with keratoconus and irregular corneal curvature, caused by eye injuries, failed LASIK or just born with that. Another type of custom RGPs are multifocal RGPs, which are created for presbyopia. In conclusion, custom RGPs provide a more effective way to correct myopia and astigmatism.

Soft contacts are also available in custom types, even if they are not as competitive as custom RGPs. But custom soft contacts do offer a better solution for high level astigmatism than conventional toric contacts, which are effective only for astigmatism below 2.5 diopters. Custom toric lenses offer higher powers as well as slighter increments.

Custom contact lenses may be your choice once you have failed in fitting some conventional contacts or you just want to make a change. Requiring additional time and skills, custom contacts cost about two times more than common contact lenses. You may contact your eye doctor for detailed information.

this article is come from:http://vision.firmoo.com/contact-lenses/contact-lenses-for-personalized-needs.html

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is the information source in area of vision care, including eyeglasses, sunglasses, contact lenses, sports protective eyewear, vision error and diseases, vision surgery, ageing and kid’s vision etc., solely sponsored by Firmoo.com, an emerging online optical store.

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The perfect and the only answer to all these problems is LASIK surgery for eye sight correction.

LASIK stands for LASER IN-SITU KERATOMILEUSIS. It is a new form of laser surgery that is capable of correcting a wide range of glass numbers. The procedure uses a computer-controlled excimer laser to reshape the cornea to correct vision. The laser reshaping is done under a protective flap of tissue to promote a very rapid recovery of vision and minimize discomfort.

Light falling on the cornea [the front surface of the eye] has a smooth curvature- referred to as a “wave front”. As this smooth wave front shape courses through the various optics of the eye, ocular aberrations (imperfections) are induced. It results in an irregular wave front curvature reaching the retinal surface, which degrades the retinal image quality. An aberration-free eye would result in a smooth wave front image on the retinal surface. Wave front-guided customized LASIK, also referred to as “customized ablation” or custom LASIK performs corrections based on individual wave front measurements.

Custom LASIK or Custom Wave front LASIK, treatment replaces “one treatment fits all” with a procedure that is tailored to the individual eye. While standard laser eye treatment (without Wave front guidance) gives very high quality results for the majority of patients, many peoples’ eyes are not ‘standard’. Their eyes might require a specially tailored treatment.

Thus, any individual above 18 years of age, who does not have unstable spectacle power, is not pregnant or nursing and not suffering from uncontrolled diabetes or vascular disease, is a good candidate for the surgery and can easily get his vision corrected through the wonderful LASIK surgery.

For more information about LASIK, visit http://indicurecosmeticsurgery.com/Laser-spectacle-removal.html or http://indicure.com/lasik_laser.html or write to http://indicurecosmeticsurgery.com/ContactUs_php.php

Sonia srivats is Head of the patient care services at Indicure, the premier Healthcare Company of India, which provides expert medical advice and complete healthcare facilitation to patients globally.

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First, if you are already firmly set in your decision to have LASIK, read these pointers:

1. Make sure you go to a doctor who uses the new Interlase laser for making the corneal flap.

Why? Because the Interlase is 100 times more precise than the “old fashioned” method of using a microkeratome to cut the initial flap. Many speculate that most of the problems that come from LASIK surgery have been due to the impreciseness of the microkeratome device used to cut the cornea.

2. Most definitely insist on a custom wavefront laser to do the actual reshaping of the cornea.

Why? Because the custom wavefront can get rid of what is called higher order aberrations.

What does this mean to you? It means much sharper vision after the surgery and a significantly reduced chance of having halos, starburst and other “complications” from LASIK.

Repeating: Make sure you go to a surgeon who is using both Interlase and Custom Wavefront technology to do LASIK surgery. Relatively few practices have these new technologies. Consider that surgeons who invest in these technologies may have more of your interests at heart.

One of the top 5 LASIK surgeons lives in Kansas City. Check out his site: durrievision.com Look at the information on his site including the videos where he explains what LASIK is all about. Compare your perspective surgeons website to his and you may detect a difference.

Next, you should be aware of the potential problems of LASIK surgery as you review www.surgicaleyes.com – you may find that these horror stories came from procedures that didnt use interlase and custom wavefront technology together. See-there is a reason to go with the newer technologies. You can email the people on this site and ask them questions about their procedures and the complications that they faced or are still facing.

One of the problems with LASIK, has been the LASIK 20/20 phenomenon. Some people do technically see 20/20 after the procedure but it is not normal. Instead, it is hazy or blurred. This is probably due to the higher order aberrations mentioned earlier. That is why it is important to get custom LASIK done. The custom wave front lasers can remove those aberrations, hopefully allowing you avoid the LASIK 20/20 phenomenon.

If your doctor says that you dont need the custom treatment, I would ask him if he has a custom wave front machine. There may be a few legitimate reasons to not have the custom procedure done, but I seriously doubt there are many.

If he doesnt have such a machine, I would wonder if his recommendation is based on the best thing for you as the patient. It always pays to get a second opinion anyway and in this case, you should.

These are your eyes that we are talking about and you owe it to yourself to get educated on every aspect of this surgery before undergoing treatment. The surgical eyes web site mentioned above is worth investigating. You need to know what could go wrong and how to choose a doctor and equipment that will allow you to avoid problems.

I will say it again. Try to go with Interlase to cut the corneal flap and try to go with a custom wavefront laser to reduce your risk of complications! I cannot stress this enough.

I went through a screening process to get LASIK done and was categorized as an excellent candidate. They even wanted me to participate in a study program that would save me about $600. I still turned it down. In the end, I decided that I didnt want to get my eyes lasered.

Of course, there is something to be said about not wearing glasses or contacts anymore and there are many happy patients out there. I just want you to be aware of both the pros and the cons.

Do you really need to have LASIK done? I think its worth it to investigate natural vision therapy and see what you can do about correcting your vision naturally before permanently etching your current prescription into your cornea.

Many people have gotten results from vision therapy. A few have even gotten rid of their glasses and /or contacts forever. An industry insider has informed me that this does happen but not very often.

There are a couple of books to check out on natural vision improvement if you are interested in that alternative. Relearning to See by Thomas Quakenbush is one that comes to mind.

The original pioneer in vision improvement was Dr. Bates. He was an early 20th century ophthalmologist who really stuck his neck out to go against the prevailing theories of the day (that still persist). Many of the people who he helped were very grateful, Im sure.

I have dabbled with naturally improving my vision. I have experienced a decrease of tension, but I have not recovered 20/20 vision. This type of improvement does take work and determination.

That is why there is LASIK today; everyone is different in their wishes and expectations. If you are in a hurry and you dont mind the permanent etching of a prescription in your cornea, LASIK might be for you.

I hope this helps you on your quest to learn more about LASIK Surgery and point you in the right directions to gain more information so that you can make an informed decision before deciding to undergo this often expensive elective procedure.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to diagnose or suggest treatment for any health condition. Please consult a health care professional if you have or suspect you have any health related problem for proper diagnoses and treatment.

David Snape is the author of: What You Should Know about Gum Disease ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-9814855-0-8.
You can ask questions of Dave on this topic or any other health, fitness or wellness related topic at http://tobeinformed.com

Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes. It does not intend to provide advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have or think you have an oral health problem, visit a periodontist for advice, diagnosis and treatment. The USFDA has not evaluated any statements about products in this article.

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