Laser Vision Correction
Laser Surgery
If you don't have time to deal with contact lenses and do not care for glasses, then you may wish to consider laser vision correction. This treatment can give you better focus and enhanced vision with the freedom from glasses and contact lenses.
Considering Laser Vision Correction?
LASIK is a type of laser surgery that can correct certain types of "refractive errors"—the reduced ability to focus (or "refract") light. LASIK is the abbreviation of Laser In Situ Keratomileusis. While LASIK isn't a cure-all, it is the state-of-the-art treatment for certain types and degrees of vision correction.
While LASIK has been a popular, virtually painless and effective means of vision correction, it does not correct for individual optical irregularities. Zyoptix® treatment is a more advanced form of LASIK, it adapts the treatment for each individual eye.
How Does It Work?
Under ideal conditions, light that passes through the cornea and then the lens will come to a perfect focus on the retina. In some eyes, light comes to a focus in front of the retina. In other eyes, the light isn't focused strongly enough. The retina may be perfectly healthy—it's the light reaching it that's the problem.
In LASIK surgery, a specially trained eye surgeon (an ophthalmologist) uses an extremely precise laser to reshape the cornea of the eye in order to bring the light into focus for most tasks.
- To correct shortsightedness (myopia), the surgeon uses the laser to flatten the central corneal surface, enabling light to focus on the retina
- To correct longsightedness (hyperopia), the surgeon uses the laser to flatten the peripheral or outer edge of the cornea, causing the central portion to steepen and increase its power
- To correct astigmatism, the surgeon uses the laser to selectively reshape some portions of the cornea, flattening the steeper areas in an elliptical pattern
