Lasik: 5 Tips That Could Save You Trouble in Laser eye surgery
When you’re considering having laser eye surgery, millions of questions run through your head and you’re probably not sure how to handle the information you’ve collected from doctors, the internet, friends and forums. These five tips will help simplify the confusion and get you on the road to a comfortable laser eye surgery experience.
- Know your “refractive error”—Most people having laser eye surgery are doing it because their vision has become so bad that they are dependent on glasses day and night, for everything. They believe that any laser eye surgery, whether it is Lasik or PRK, will solve their problems. But it’s important to understand that laser eye surgery is only meant to improve your vision, not perfect it. If you have incredibly bad vision, you made need follow-up surgeries, called “refinements” to get your vision to where you want it to be.
- Know your personal risks—There are basic risks to having laser eye surgery that apply to everyone, but there are also risks that apply individually to PRK and Lasik. There are also risks that apply to you based on your personal health and vision problems. Your personal health risks may even be different if you choose PRK over Lasik. Make sure you talk to your doctor about all of your options and risks before you have surgery.
- Know the difference between PRK and Lasik — PRK and Lasik are not the same laser eye surgery with different names. PRK stands for photorefractive keratotomy and is a refractive surgery just like Lasik. While Lasik and PRK both utilize ultraviolet laser light to complete the process of reshaping the corneas, PRK is associated with a much longer healing process and PRK is not as refined as Lasik.
- Know the benefits and the costs — There are dozens of benefits to having laser eye surgery, including improved vision and improved quality of life, freedom from sight aids, quick recovery times and short and virtually painless surgeries. But there are also costs associated with laser eye surgery that must be weighed in such as the financial burden if your insurance won’t assist you—and most won’t, and the possibility of reduced night vision, under or overcorrection, infections and scarring and even loss of best corrected visual acuity—you may not be able to see as well with glasses and contacts as you did before but your vision won’t be any better without.
- Know your other options — If you need vision correction and you don’t want to stick with sight aids, you have other options besides PRK and Lasik including Conductive Keratoplasty, Instrastromal Corneal Rings and Astigmatic Keratoplasty. You should discuss all of your options with your doctor before making a decision.
Remember, before choosing any laser eye surgery, it’s important to fully understand every aspect of the surgery you are about to undergo and to know for sure whether or not it is right for you.
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