Our eyes are amazing, but like most things in nature, they are rarely perfect. The cornea that helps focus incoming light onto the retina is often slightly or moderately imperfect, and the image it passes may be fuzzy, out of focus, blurred, or distorted. These errors in how the light is sent to the retina produce myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism.
LASIK surgery can often correct these conditions in a quick, relatively painless procedure. A skilled doctor using modern equipment can use a special laser to trim the cornea and correct its imperfections, a process that restores or produces much better vision.
The LASIK procedure is usually done using local anesthetic on an outpatient basis, which means no expensive hospital stays. In performing the procedure, a small flap in the cornea is created using either another laser or a microkeratome blade. This flap is gently lifted and the special LASIK laser is used to trim the cornea to produce the desired results. If both eyes are to be treated, the procedure is normally done on one each eye separately, about a week apart.
Following the LASIK treatment, you are usually sent back home after a short rest and most people feel only a very mild sense of discomfort. After a few hours relaxing, you can normally resume most normal activities the following day but strenuous activity is to be avoided. A rest period of a few days is often advised, just to make sure that the eye heals properly.
The results of a LASIK procedure are sometimes noticed at once, but some people may need a few days for their eyes to adjust and the results of the operation to become noticeable. The results depend on many factors, including the state of the cornea before the procedure, but most people achieve 20/20 vision or better following the operation.
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