LASIK

LASIK is the procedure used for removal of spectacle number

Lasik is "laser in situ in keratomileuosis", that is reshaping of the eye (cornea) to have clear vision without glasses.This is achieved with the help of excimer laser. With this method a person with minus, plus or cylindrical number can have normal clear vision without glasses.

With a laser beam, the abnormal length of the eye ball of a person wearing spectacles is adjusted to normal by operating and reshaping of front-most transparent part of the eye (cornea), so that the patient sees clearly without glasses.

Patient selection

Dr. Aphale suggests the following ideal situations for LASIK surgery:

• Age- 18 to 40 years is ideal.
• (minus) Myopia of between -3D to -9D.
• (plus) Hypermetropia of between +2 to +6D.
• (cylinder) Astigmatism upto+/- 4D. Pupil size should not be too large.
• Corneal thickness should be adequate.
• Spectacle number should be fixed for atleast 1 year before going for LASIK.
• Absence of dry eye.
• The patient should not have diabetes.
• The patient should not be pregnant or lactating.
• The patient should not have glaucoma.
• Soft lenses should be discontinued for 15 days and semisoft lenses should be discontinued for 1 month before going for final refraction before surgery.
• The patient should be free from any eye infection.

Procedure

LASIK is a painless procedure and is done under local anesthetic eye drops. Normally it takes about 15-20 minutes. The eye is kept open with speculum and the eye ball pressure is increased by vacuum. A flap of cornea is made with a special instrument called microkerotome and the cornea below the flap is reshaped with laser according to the spectacle number. The flap is then replaced. The flap heals on its own without stitches and there is no bleeding.

Below Kinjal Bhimani - a satisfied patient

Care after operations

There may be a little pain for 1-2 days after the operation but no patch is needed.

Dr. Kshipra Aphale advices following post operative care after lasik surgery :

• Goggles to be worn for 1 month
• Eye should not be rubbed for 1 month
• Patient can join duties after 2-3 days
• No swimming for 1 month
• Eye drops and follow ups needed upto 6 weeks
• No hair bath for 15 days

Complications

The following complications may occur during or after LASIK surgery (though most of them are preventable):

• Little spect number may remain uncorrected though spects may not be needed.
• Number may recur after surgery if procedure done before stabilizing of number at an earlier age.
• Halos around light can be seen if patients pupil size is large.
• High number may reoccur if very high minus number is treated without suffitient corneal bed (thickness).
• Incorrect preoperative refractive correction can lead to recurrence of number same is the case if contact lenses were not discontinued for sufficient time before this procedure
• Infection may occur if proper post-operative care is not taken.
• Dryness of eyes can occur in very high spect number correction.
• Patients having dry eye can need to put permanent lubricating eye drops.
• Patients above 40 years are bound to need specs for near vision.

From this, it is clear that with proper patient selection and of course with good quality machine and microkeratome, no complications can occur and patient gets good vision for whole of his life.

For those who are not eligible for undergoing LASIK surgery have different options open which depend upon particular case.

©copyright 2004 - www.draphale.com