Laser eye surgery is a life changing procedure which can correct the sight of people who are longsighted, short sighted or who have astigmatism.
Laser eye surgery aims to eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses and in most cases you can expect to enjoy 20:20 vision or better.
Why Exactly is Your Vision Blurred?
The cornea (outer clear part of your eye) controls and focuses the entry of light into the eye. Perfect vision occurs when light entering the eye focusses precisely on to your retina, but when the cornea’s curve is imperfectly shaped it will either fall short or surpass the retina. This causes blurry vision.
The prescription of your eye is derived from the power of your cornea (outer clear part of your eye) and the power of the natural lens within your eye. To have 20:20 vision, these 2 components must work together to focus light perfectly on to your retina. If you are long sighted, short sighted or have astigmatism, this is not the case.
During laser eye surgery, the aim of the procedure is to alter the shape (and therefore power) of your cornea, to ensure the light entering your eye is focussed perfectly on to your retina.
Types of Laser Eye Surgery:
The 2 main types of laser eye surgery available are LASIK and LASEK. The main difference between the both is how the cornea is accessed. With LASIK, a flap is created but no flap is created with LASEK. You can read more about the differences between the procedures in our handy LASIK vs. LASEK guide.
Latest Developments in Laser Eye Surgery:
Recent developments in laser eye surgery have seen the procedure becoming safer and the visual results more impressive. Intralase is a new development and describes a revolutionary way of creating the flap during LASIK, using a laser instead of a surgical blade. The main advantages of Intralase are fewer complications and better visual results. Wavefront laser eye surgery describes the way in which the laser reshapes your cornea and is considered the gold standard in laser eye surgery. Wavefront technology takes many precise measurements right across the surface of your eye which results in a more accurate correction of your vision.
Laser Eye Surgery For Reading Vision:
As we get older our reading vision naturally deteriorates, called presbyopia. Up until recently, laser eye surgery has only been capable of correcting peoples distance vision although this is now no longer the case. Recent developments in laser eye surgery have seen techniques emerging that can correct presbyopia, namely CK treatment, monovision, laser blended vision and Kamra vision inlays.
