LASIK is an acronym for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis. In plain English it stands for the surgical process which uses a special laser called excimer laser to conduct non-intrusive surgery underneath (in Situ) the corneal flap to reshape the cornea (Keratomileusis). The cornea is the transparent layer that covers the front of the eye.  Lasik eye surgery is used to correct myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism etc.

Lasik eye surgery is generally performed by trained ophthalmologists. While laser is used in many other forms of surgery, Lasik eye surgery is the most non-intrusive and patients don’t need any post-surgery recovery time.

Even though we consider laser technology to be relatively new, Lasik eye surgery was first put into practice in 1950 by Spanish ophthalmologist Jose Barraquer, in Colombia. Almost a decade later, in 1973 Dr. Mani Lal Bhaumik published and patented his innovation, the carbon dioxide laser “excimer laser”, which is used in Lasik eye surgery till today. Even though Lasik eye surgery was first patented in the US by a Dr. Gholam A. Peyman in 1989, the concept of LASIK is attributed to the Greek surgeon Dr. Pallikaris. (Source: wiki)

While there were much reservation about Lasik eye surgery in the beginning, it’s becoming quite common at the present. But not many people are aware how Lasik eye surgery actually works.

The human eye is a remarkable thing. The light comes through the Cornea (frontal layer) and is focused through the lens and projected onto the retina. If the lens and the cornea are perfectly positioned then the image formed is sharply in focus, as for person with a 20-20 vision. But of either the cornea or the lens is out of alignment, length etc; we start to experience blurred vision.

When the eye can focus on nearby objects but not on distant objects, it’s called Myopia or nearsightedness; when the eye can’t focus on nearer objects but distant objects are more in focus, it’s called Hyperopia or farsightedness. When the eye cannot focus on any object, near or far it’s called Astigmatism. Lasik eye surgery can be used to treat any of these vision problems. In Lasik eye surgery, the cornea is remodeled to bring the image back to its original sharp focus. It’s somewhat like how you manually focus an SLR camera, by manipulating the outer most ring of the lens.

The Lasik eye surgery is performed on a conscious patient and if there are reservations on the part of the patient, sometimes sedative are prescribed. The patient can leave after the operation with the post-operative care instructions, which include application of anti-biotic, anti-inflammatory eye drops, moisturizing eye drops to sooth the eye and sometimes an added warning of wearing goggles in the bright sun and generally keeping the eye protected until it’s naturally healed.

Initially Lasik eye surgery often left more vision errors as side effects. But with time and advancement in technology, currently other than human error very little side effects are caused. Some common effects are dry eyes, light sensitivity etc.

While we refer to Lasik eye surgery as a whole, there are multiple types of LASIK available, which include conventional, wavefront-optimized, and wavefront-guided LASIK. Conventional Lasik eye surgery is the most inexpensive and basic form of the procedure where a patients eye prescription is used to treat the vision defect. While this treatment works generally, it also is prone to the most number of side effects. Wavefront-optimized Lasik eye surgery is one step above conventional LASIK where a preliminary scan of the eye is taken into account for the curvature and thickness of cornea that can differ from person to person.

Wavefront-guided Lasik eye surgery is a the more advanced process where the correction to the retina is guided by constant input from a sensor that constantly measures focal length, making is more correct in result. Expect to shell out anywhere between $2000 to $2500 per eye for a high quality LASIK treatment

While Lasik eye surgery is an option to many who don’t want to hide behind their glasses and a necessary to those for whom glasses and contacts cannot be the solution, it will be wrong to go for LASIK expecting to get “supervision”. Most often than not, with age our vision continue to fail and Lasik eye surgery cannot be a permanent cure. But then again many patients are happy and satisfied with the result and are willing to spend a little to see better. 

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