Type of Surgery

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Last updated: 11/24/2009

Mordibity Mortality

The mortality from LASEK eye surgery is essentially zero, but there can be significantly morbidity. Since LASEK attracts patients that are not well-suited to LASIK surgery, patients usually have certain risk factors that put them out of contention...

for LASIK. This means that the chance of complications, even complications from LASEK, is greater.
 
While LASEK is not associated with many of the flap-related problems seen with LASIK, there are certain risks involved. Dry eyes, hazy or blurry vision, and poor vision in low light can occur and last for six months or more after LASEK surgery. The sensation of having a foreign object in the treated eye, which can be very unsettling, may last for one to four days after the LASEK procedure.


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This video shows how vision is dependent on light entering the front of the eye and focusing on the retina at the back of the eye. When this focus cannot be accomplished by the eye muscles or lens of the eye, it results in nearsightedness or farsightedness. Sometimes changes in the cornea can correct these errors of refraction.

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Physiology of the Cornea

Most laser vision correction procedures like LASIK involve shaping the cornea so that light can be properly focused on the back of the eye, or retina. This video shows how the anatomy of the eye works to harness light so that we can see. The role of the cornea in vision is also discussed.

How LASIK eye surgery is carried out

Crisp images from our world require that light is focused on the back of the eye. When light cannot focus properly, it is called an error of refraction and is often caused by an irregular or improperly shaped cornea. LASIK improved errors of refraction in the eye by reshaping the cornea, as the animation explains.

The Eye and sight process

Any object that we see is a collection of light energy focused on the retina. The lens of the eye helps us see near and far things equally well. This animation describes how the lens of the eye changes to accommodate and focus light.

Lasik & Cataract

This narrated animation describes the function of the major structures of the eye, namely the pupil, iris, lens, cornea, and retina.

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Other Information

Approximately 56% of all patients achieve results of 20/20 or better and over 90% achieve 20/40 or better (which is good enough to drive without corrective lenses in most regions).1 Those with moderate to high myopia (greater than 7 diopters) have a lesser chance of achieving that result. As technique and technology improve, the results continue to improve.


From: Eye Surgery Education Council

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