Thursday, March 6, 2008

Is Laser Eye Surgery for You?

If you look at the million of people all over the world that glasses or contact lenses to see clearly you will soon realize why laser eye surgery has become so popular. In the majority of cases, after surgery the patient will no longer rely on glasses or contact lenses to see the world through un-blurry eyes.

Many people turn to laser eye surgery commonly referred to as LASIK, as a way to get rid of the hassles of wearing corrective lenses. How many of us get tired of wearing glasses all the time? You may not wish to wear glasses for several reasons besides how you think you look. You may be a person that only needs glasses to read items up close and you keep taking them off and then forgetting where you put them. You may have to search through your purse to get your glasses just to read product labels in the store. All of these things can take the joy out of shopping or even reading the morning newspaper. If you decide to get contact lenses to rid yourself of those ugly glasses, then you will have the hassle of putting them in your eyes every morning, worrying about losing them, and of course cleaning them.

Today, these are just a few of the reasons that people are turning to laser eye surgery. However, are you a good candidate? People who are nearsighted or farsighted are using good candidates. However, if you expect to receive 20/20 vision from surgery you should forget it. Most people do not receive perfect vision after laser surgery.

Laser eye surgery reshapes the cornea, which improves the way in which light enters the eye. Most of the time, surgery is about 1 minute per eye. You will need to wear a shield until the cornea can heal.

Before heading out and searching for a laser eye surgeon you should learn if you are a good candidate. The best way to do this is to be examined by more than one ophthalmologist. Remember, not all ophthalmologist are licensed to perform this type of eye surgery and then there are some that their sole income is based on this procedure.

Just because this surgery is performed as an out patient procedure, it is still surgery and some complications can arise. Learn what the risks are prior to signing the dotted line.

For more information about Laser Eye Surgery and the risks involved you can check out lasereye.org.uk

Labels: , , , , ,