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What is the laser eye surgery
Wearing prescription glasses or contact lenses for various reasons can be tiring for years. For physical or emotional reasons, people want to stop using glasses or contact lenses. The procedures that save the person from glasses and achieve distance and near vision without glasses with laser or a different surgical intervention for this purpose are generally called laser eye surgery, refractive surgery in medical language. This laser eye surgery provides the removal of myopia (which is related to long sight), astigmatism and hyperopia problems (which is related to short sight) with certain conditions by reshaping the cornea, which is the transparent layer that filters light with the help of laser beam. Thus, the patient gains clear vision and correct focusing.
Is Laser Eye Surgery Safe?
Whether laser eye surgery is safe or not is one of the most frequently asked questions to surgeons. In fact, these concerns are natural when it comes to something as critical as laser eye surgery and as valuable as our eyesight. Laser surgeries have completed 30 years and the number of people who have undergone laser eye surgery all over the world has reached millions. Laser surgeries have been proven to be safe and successful. In the laser systems that are now used at the point where the technology has come, the laser can automatically recognize the eye when the patient lies down and follow the eye throughout the treatment. Today, eye correction can be done as personalized as a fingerprint. At this point, the complications of laser surgery are extremely low. Among the complications reported below one percent, there are no cases as serious as vision loss. In other words, there is no blindness caused by laser.
Who Can Have Laser Eye Surgery?
In order to achieve successful results and have a problem-free treatment process with laser eye surgery, this treatment should be applied to suitable candidates. The most suitable people for laser eye treatment are those over the age of 18. Those over the age of 18 have completed their eye development. Laser eye treatment is considered appropriate after the age of 18, due to the possibility of changes in the number of glasses and the manifestation of genetic corneal diseases that may affect the success of the treatment at this age.
Laser surgeries can be performed on patients with suitable corneal thickness. Unlike Lasik and iLasik laser applications, no-touch laser application can also be applied to patients with thin corneal structure. It can also be applied to people who have had cataract surgery before and those who have a tear in their retina after providing the appropriate preconditions. It can also be applied to patients with astigmatism and hyperopia that are not excessively high and myopia patients with high numbers. In addition, it can be applied to patients who have various scars and stains on the cornea layer. As a result, those who are over the age of 18 and wear glasses and contact lenses, do not have any discomfort such as keratoconus or eye pressure in their eyes, whose eye prescription has not changed for at least 1 year, who are not pregnant or breastfeeding, are suitable candidates for laser eye surgery. Laser eye surgery, which can be applied for many different reasons, is performed with the advice of a doctor after various examination procedures. You can find out whether you are fully suitable for laser eye surgery after passing the necessary examinations provided by your specialist physician.
What are Types of Laser Eye Surgery?
Laser eye surgery is a procedure designed to correct the vision of people who have problems such as myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism, without the need for lens exchange in the eye. In summary and in basic terms, laser eye surgery involves the use of a laser to reshape the cornea of the eye, improving vision by changing the focusing power. There are laser surgeries such as Lasik, Lasek and No Touch Laser as known as Trans PRK eye surgery.
No Touch Laser (Trans PRK)
As the name suggests, this is a laser eye surgery treatment with or without touching the eye. This is a suitable method especially for patients who do not like the feeling of contact. In the Trans-PRK (No Touch Laser) method, it is not possible to scrape the anterior wall of the eye by melting it with alcohol or to remove the wall like a hat with a knife or other laser device before the operation. In this method, it is sufficient to look at a distant light source for less than 30 seconds. It is suitable for people have myopia, astigmatism, hyperopia and with appropriate eye structure.
LASIK
LASIK eye surgery is the well known and quite commonly applied laser eye surgery to correct vision issues. During LASIK eye surgery, a special cutting laser is used to perfectly change the shape of the clear dome-shaped tissue (cornea) in front of the eyes to better the vision.
i-Lasik
IntraLaze Lasik Excimer Laser as known as iLASIK is applied to eliminate visual defects such as hyperopia, myopia, and astigmatism in laser eye surgery. In developed iLASIK technology, the valve is created with a femtosecond laser beam and no blade is used.
What Should You Do Before Laser Eye Surgery?
Patients using hard contact lenses should stop using lenses for 3 weeks, and those using soft contact lenses 1 week in advance. It is recommended to wear comfortable clothes, not to wear make-up, or even to use perfume on the day of surgery.
What is the Procedure of Laser Eye Surgery?
Laser eye surgery procedure starts when the patient enters the laser room, they are asked to lie on their back on the laser bed. A sterile drape is covered over the eye, then the eyelids are opened with a specially manufactured apparatus to prevent them from blinking during the treatment. Laser treatment takes about 4-5 minutes for each eye, pain and ache are not felt. It is very important that the patient is comfortable throughout the treatment and follows the doctor’s instructions. After the treatment is finished, the patient is removed from the laser room without bandaging his eyes.
What Happens After Laser Eye Surgery?
The patient, whose laser treatment is completed, is kept waiting for about forty minutes and is taken for a control examination. After the control the patient is able to leave the hospital. First day; It is normal to have blurred vision and stinging, burning and watering in the eyes for three to four hours. It is necessary to pay attention to the use of medication as recommended by the doctor. If a headache is felt after laser, a pain reliever that does not have blood thinning properties can be taken. It is not recommended to drive and go to work on the day of laser eye surgery. Being in a dusty place should be avoided, eyes should not be rubbed, scratched, touched, washed or bathed during the first 24 hours. In the first days, care should be taken not to get soap and shampoo in the eyes. The next day of the operation, during the recovery time, there are no side effects that will limit social and business life. If an anomaly is detected in the transparent area on the surface of the eye during the physician’s control the next day or if there is a reaction under the flap (valve), it may be necessary to wash the bottom of the flap. Eye drops recommended by the doctor should be used for approximately three to six months after the operation.