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L A S I K, "laser assisted in-situ
keratomileusis", is a procedure that uses
cool laser energy to reshape the cornea.
LASIK candidates should be in good general
health & present with a normal ocular health
evaluation. The surgery, takes about five to
ten minutes, with the laser application
taking less than two minutes.
The cornea is a part of the eye that helps
focus light to create an image on the
retina. It works in much the same way that
the lens of a camera focuses light to create
an image on film. The bending and focusing
of light is also known as refraction.
Usually the shape of the cornea and the eye
are not perfect and the image on the retina
is out-of-focus (blurred) or distorted.
Persons with myopia, or nearsightedness,
have more difficulty seeing distant objects
as clearly as near objects. Persons with
hyperopia, or farsightedness, have more
difficulty seeing near objects as clearly as
distant objects.
These imperfections in the focusing power of
the eye are called refractive errors. There
are three primary types of refractive
errors: They are myopia, hyperopia and
astigmatism. Persons with myopia, or
nearsightedness, have more difficulty seeing
distant objects as clearly as near objects.
Persons with hyperopia, or farsightedness,
have more difficulty seeing near objects as
clearly as distant objects. Astigmatism is a
distortion of the image on the retina caused
by irregularities in the cornea or lens of
the eye. Combinations of myopia and
astigmatism or hyperopia and astigmatism are
common.
In LASIK surgery, precise and controlled
removal of corneal tissue by a special
laser, reshapes the cornea changing its
focusing power. LASIK is a procedure that
permanently changes the shape of the cornea,
the clear covering of the front of the eye,
by using an excimer laser. A knife, called a
microkeratome, is used to cut a flap in the
cornea. A hinge is left at one end of this
flap. The flap is folded back revealing the
stroma, the middle section of the cornea.
Pulses from a laser vaporize a portion of
the stroma and the flap is replaced. |
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