Posts Tagged ‘Portland’
If you are considering LASIK, you might wonder whether all LASIK procedures are the same. The answer is they are not. Custom LASIK is a newer, more accurate form of the procedure that uses detailed analysis of your eyes to design a treatment plan that is significantly more accurate than traditional LASIK and far more accurate than prescriptions for glasses and contact lenses.
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.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/choose-custom-lasik-for-precision-vision-correction-1369433.html
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Although many people worry about the long-term stability of the results they get with LASIK or other refractive procedures, recent studies are showing that the results of LASIK are indeed stable over the long term and lead to most people experiencing satisfaction with their vision for many years after receiving treatment. According to one study, about 88% of people who get refractive surgery have as good or better vision 12 years after, and another study shows that nearly 85% of people are satisfied with their vision correction 14 years after surgery.
A Lack of Long-Term Data
In 2006, an editorial in the Journal of Refractive Surgery pointed out that no-one had published a significant study of 10-year safety data on LASIK. This article pointed out that if the officially acknowledged complication rates were true, then the number of people who experienced some complications would be 23-75 times more than actually observed. The lack of published results was touted as “no news is good news,” but also used as a call to surgeons to publish their actual complication rates to educate the public about the safety of laser vision correction.
Supplying the Lack
In the same issue of the Journal of Refractive Surgery, a 12-year follow-up of a small population of laser vision correction recipients. The study compared 2-year results of an initial population of 80 patients (120 eyes) to 34 patients (58 eyes) that returned after 12 years. According to the study, 87.9% of eyes had maintained their vision, and 34.5% of them had actually gained one line of visual acuity. 67% of eyes had uncorrected visual acuity of ?20/20. Complications noted were a trace haze in 17.2% of eyes, and night vision problems in 41% of eyes. Night vision problems were only considered severe in 2.7% of eyes.
More recently, a study published in the June 2009 issue of the Journal of Refractive Surgery shows the results of a survey of refractive surgery recipients over 14 years after receiving surgery. This survey included 31 patients (49 eyes) who had surgery between 1991 and 1993. The patients were divided into two groups: those who had surgery for low myopia and those who had surgery for high myopia. Among the low myopia group, 84% were still satisfied with their vision, and among the high myopia group 75% were satisfied.
Significant Data Still Needed
Unfortunately, these two studies are typical of reported results. A small number of studies exist focusing on the long-term safety of refractive surgeries like LASIK, and those that exist focus on a very small number of patients and eyes. With millions of procedures being performed every year, there should be plenty of raw material for studies. Why are ophthalmologists not performing these studies and publishing their results?
Faced with anecdotal reports of severe complications and negative outcomes, the Food and Drug Administration has decided to take matters into its own hands. It is currently performing investigations into the long-term safety and complication rates of LASIK and other refractive surgeries and may soon publish new guidelines.
In the meantime, your best method of reducing your risk of complications related to LASIK or other refractive surgeries is to work with an experienced doctor utilizing advanced technology. For more information, please consult the website of 20/20 Institute with offices in Denver, Indianapolis and Portland.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/refractive-vision-surgery-gives-longterm-stable-results-1369435.html
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A study published in the July 2009 issue of the journal Eye & Contact Lens: Science and Clinical Practice highlights the frequency of risks faced by contact lens users. The study, which analyzed a cross-section of contact lens users in a university practice setting (UCLA), showed that as many as half of all contact lens users experienced a contact lens-related complication. Some of these complications were vision-threatening, although most were benign. Complications were seen by users of all types of contact lenses, although users of rigid gas permeable lenses had a statistically significant reduction of risk compared to users of soft contact lenses.
The most common complications seen were papillae and giant papillary conjunctivitis. These can typically be treated and do not generally threaten vision. They typically cause infection, mucoid discharge, irritation, and blurred vision. Papillae and giant papillary conjunctivitis can lead to lens intolerance, forcing a return to glasses for best lens corrected vision.
Comparing Risks of LASIK and Contact Lenses
Although about half of contact lens users experience complications, contact lenses still compare favorably with LASIK and other forms of refractive surgery in terms of preserving your vision. Studies show that less than 1% of people receiving LASIK surgery experience a loss in best corrected vision. However, the likelihood of a loss of vision related to contact lens use is still significantly less.
At one time, contact lens use was associated with a potential for vision loss as high as 0.9%, but improvement in contact lens technology and wearing habits has reduced that risk significantly. Post-market studies required of all 30-day contact lenses approved by the FDA show that the approximate annual risk of vision-threatening microbial keratitis associated with contact lens use is 4 per 10,000 wearers, or 0.04%. If we assume a 14-year life for refractive surgeries, that amounts to a cumulative risk of about 0.6%. However, rates of infection are increased 4 times for people who wear contacts overnight, and up to 15 times for people who wear their contacts for more than two weeks.
LASIK complication rates resulting in vision loss used to be as high as 5%, but recently they have been reduced to about 1%, which is close to the rates for contact lenses. For most people, the comparable safety rate of LASIK seems better when compared to the vigilance necessary to keep contacts clean with daily, weekly, or biweekly removal and cleaning.
Safety Trends
However, in the near future, LASIK may be safer than contact lenses. LASIK has improved significantly in safety since its introduction. Advanced technology and experienced surgeons are largely responsible for the decrease in complications. As surgeons continue to gain experience and technology continues to advance, we can expect rates to continue dropping. Contact lenses, on the other hand, may be more risky in the future.
Microbial keratitis used to be caused by a relatively small number of microorganisms that were controllable with specific formulae of antibiotics. However, in recent years there have been more outbreaks associated with Acanthamoeba and fungal species. Some of this has been associated with specific contact lens solutions. Other times, it has been associated with the reduction of water quality standards by the EPA under the Bush administration. In the latter outbreak in Chicago during June to November of 2005, 40 people contracted Acanthamoeba keratitis, nearly seven times the historical rate of this type of infection.
In the future we may see more of what are described as “atypical” cases of microbial keratitis that may increase the risk of wearing contact lenses.
If you would like to learn more about the relative safety of LASIK and contact lenses, please visit the website of 20/20 Institute, with offices in Denver, Indianapolis, and Portland.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/vision-articles/will-lasik-be-safer-than-contacts-in-the-near-future-1369437.html