LASIK Eye Surgery (cont.)
What happens to vision when we age?
During our youth, the natural lens has
the ability to change shape and power. This allows us to focus on close objects
through a process of lens power change called accommodation. As we age, the
natural lens becomes stiffer and loses the ability to change shape. This is
termed presbyopia, which is the loss of accommodation, and the need for reading
glasses, bifocals, or other visual aids to facilitate near work. LASIK cannot
directly "fix" accommodation, but there are a variety of strategies that can be
successful, including blended vision or monovision, in which one eye is
corrected for better distance vision and one eye is corrected for better near
vision.
Are there different types of LASIK?
There are a variety of different types of
lasers used in ophthalmology. All LASIK procedures are performed with a specific
type of laser (excimer laser), so in one sense, all LASIK procedures are similar.
However, there are a variety of different laser manufacturers, including Visx,
Wavelight, Alcon, Bausch & Lomb, and Nidek, among others, that have all designed
specific excimer lasers. Further, there are different types of laser ablations
that can be performed (see below), including conventional laser treatments,
wavefront-optimized treatments, and wavefront-guided treatments. Finally, a
completely different type of laser (femtosecond laser) can be used instead of a
mechanical microkeratome to create the LASIK (corneal) flap.
What is conventional LASIK?
Conventional LASIK is the ablation pattern
available on most lasers that treats directly based upon the patient's glasses
prescription, with fixed treatment parameters for each patient. This type of
treatment is effective for most patients but can result in more visual
aberrations such as glare, halos, and night vision issues than other forms of
laser treatment.
Next: What is wavefront-optimized LASIK? »
 |
 |
From the Doctors at MedicineNet.com  |
|
Specialty RSS
