Laser Eye Surgery

The availability of Laser Eye Surgery ushered in a new way of thinking about vision correction for the millions of people who were nearsighted, farsighted or had astigmatism. Prior to 1995, millions of people in the United States who had common eye problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism really only had two vision correction options: they could wear eyeglasses or contact lenses to correct their vision.

In 1995, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first Excimer laser that could be used to perform Laser Eye Surgery to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. The introduction of this technology to perform laser eye surgery marked the beginning of eye care patients having the additional vision correction option of Laser Vision Correction in addition to glasses and contact lenses.

The first type of laser eye surgery procedure performed was called Photorefractive Keratectomy or PRK. PRK proved to be a safe, effective and predictable method of laser eye surgery and enabled millions of patients to have Laser Vision Correction by 1998. Although PRK has many advantages, it has two particular disadvantages that limited an even greater growth of Laser Vision Correction. In PRK, the laser is applied to the surface of the cornea, which is the clear curved lens at the front of the eye. To apply the laser energy most effectively required removing the outermost covering of the cornea causing moderate discomfort during the brief healing process. In addition, because the outermost layer of the cornea-an important optical and focusing element of the eye-was removed, it often required several days or more for patients to experience a good clear visual recovery. These two limitations motivated eye surgeons to further refine the technique of laser eye surgery to facilitate quicker visual recovery and make it as comfortable a procedure as possible.

Eye surgeons began developing a technique whereby rather than applying the Excimer laser to the surface of the cornea, they applied it between the layers of the cornea by first creating a very thin flap that could be easily replaced after the laser was applied. This type of laser eye surgery is called "lamellar eye surgery" because it is performed between the layers. The most common type of lamellar eye surgery for correcting refractive vision problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism is called Laser Assisted In-Situ Keratomlieusis or LASIK. Indeed, LASIK eye surgery is the most common type of laser eye surgery today and has provided laser vison correction to millions of patients around the world.

At Litchfield Hills Eye Physicians, our eye surgeons provide consultation for many types of Laser Eye Surgery including:

      • LASIK (Lasik Eye Surgery)
      • PRK (Photorefractive keratectomy)
      • Custom Wavefront Guided Laser Eye Surgery

Our physicians also actively participate in the pre and post-operative care of our laser vision correction patients.

For a complete review of Laser Eye Surgery including LASIK, LASIK risks, LASIK complications and side effects, and contraindications to having LASIK, you may visit www.fda.gov or www.seewithlasik.com.