The Eye Practice

Laser Eye Surgery to try and reduce the dependence on glasses has been around in Australia since 1991.

These days some people who are tired of having to wear glasses and contact lenses all the time often find themselves looking into LASIK eye surgery to correct their vision problems.

If you’re one of the many looking for an alternative to traditional vision correction, you might be wondering about LASIK and other laser eye surgeries.

Which one is best?

There are many different types of laser eye surgeries, and determining which one is “best” could be misleading. The better question might be, “which one is best for you?”

•    PRK Surgery: This is the “pre-LASIK” surgery that was developed in the 1980s. It stands for “photorefractive keratectomy,” and uses a cool ultraviolet light beam to ablate corneal tissue to reshape the cornea. Recovery takes a lot longer than with LASIK, but it is often a better alternative for patients with thin corneas.

•    LASIK: “Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis” is a popular choice for many people due to its fast recovery time (as short as a day in many cases), and reshapes the cornea with cool ultraviolet light — after creating a flap in the cornea, which can be done with a special tool called a microkeratome, or a laser. This surgery is not recommended for people with very thin corneas.

•    Wavefront LASIK: This is also known as “custom LASIK,” and follows regular LASIK procedures. It is not for people with thin corneas, but will often work for those have high degrees of nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.

 

•    LASEK: Standing for “laser epithelial keratomileusis,” and is different from PRK and LASIK procedurally. A thin, epithelial layer is removed prior to reshaping the cornea with a laser, and then replaced onto the surface of the eye. This surgery is for those with thin or steep corneas so much so that LASIK is inappropriate for them.

•    Epi-LASIK: While similar to both LASIK and LASEK, Epi-LASIK uses different tools in order to preserve epithelial cells. This type of surgery works best for patients who have lower degrees of myopia. The recovery time is longer than with LASIK, with final results of vision improvement sometimes taking as long as six months.

•    Bladeless LASIK: The procedure is similar to LASIK, but uses 100% lasers (femtosecond) in order to cut the corneal flap and to reshape the cornea. While complications with regular LASIK are rare, bladeless LASIK reduces the risks even further.

Currently, LASIK is not appropriate for people with presbyopia (both near and farsightedness), although PresbyLASIK is currently being developed for approval in the United States, it is approved in other countries. If you’re in the US and have presbyopia, you may want to talk to your eye care professional about getting in on a trial study. In Australia PresbyLASIK is available but success is far from guaranteed.  It compromises distance and near vision to try and get an overall independence.  Some people will love it, some people will hate it - careful assessment and boxing in of expectations are required.

Some laser surgeries for the eye are not for everybody. People with diabetes, autoimmune disorders such as AIDS, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or similar disorders, or eye conditions such as glaucoma, retinal disease, cataracts, or corneal scarring, possibly would not do well with the surgery.

Discuss your personal options with Dr Jim Kokkinakis at The Eye Practice.  He has worked part-time in the largest laser centre in the country from 1996 to 2002.  During this time he was responsible for the Laser Eye Surgery education program and lectured nationally and internationally on Laser Eye Surgery - its advantages, its disadvantages, its complications and it solutions - make an appointment now for a Laser Eye Surgery Assessment on 9290 1899 or book an appointment online by <CLICKING HERE>.