Understanding LASIK

LASIK (Laser Assisted In-situ Keratomileusis) is the most popular laser refractive procedure in the world and is the preferred procedure for patients interested in reducing their dependency on contact lenses and glasses. In fact, it is not uncommon for LASIK surgery patients to eliminate their need for contact lenses or glasses altogether. LASIK offers benefits over other refractive procedures because it is minimally invasive and is performed under a protective layer of corneal tissue.  LASIK is performed by creating a small flap in your cornea and then reshaping the underlying tissue with the excimer laser. This change in curvature focuses the light onto your retina, thus obviating the need for glasses and contact lenses. LASIK is now approved to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

A femtosecond laser provides greater intraoperative comfort, accuracy, and safety by crafting the flap – all laser LASIK – obviating the older technology using blades.

The Ideal Candidate

  • The ideal LASIK candidate is generally over 18 years of age with healthy eyes. Your glasses prescription should be stable for about 2 years.
  • LASIK can easily correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism; however there are limitations for all three conditions. Nearsightedness occurs when the cornea is too curved or the eye is too long. This causes light to focus in front of the retina, resulting in blurry distance vision.  Farsightedness occurs when the cornea is too flat in relation to the length of the eye. This causes light to focus at a point beyond the retina, resulting in blurry close vision and sometimes blurry distant vision, too.  Astigmatism occurs when the cornea is shaped like a football (more curved in one direction than another) and often occurs with nearsightedness and farsightedness. This causes light to focus on more than one point on the retina, resulting in blurry and distorted vision.
  • LASIK does NOT correct for a condition known as presbyopia, or aging of the eye. This is a normal aging process that typically occurs after the age of 40, when reading glasses are required. It is also likely that patients over the age of 40, who do not yet require reading glasses, may find that they need them following the procedure.

Realistic Expectations

Although the vast majority of LASIK patients achieve 20/20 vision without glasses, individual results vary based on each patient's unique eye anatomy and optical profile. Patients with complex optics — including higher-order aberrations — may have a reduced chance of achieving "perfect" uncorrected vision.

To personalize your treatment, we use custom wavefront-guided technology, which maps the unique imperfections of your eye — beyond just your basic prescription — to create a highly individualized correction. This is combined with a regression-based surgical outcomes tracking program that compares expected outcomes to actual results across thousands of prior procedures, factoring in both surgeon- and patient-specific variables.

Together, these tools allow us to set realistic, data-backed expectations for how well you'll see after LASIK — tailored to your eyes specifically, not just averages.

 

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