Get rid of your spectacles through LASIK Laser.

LASIK is Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis. It is a surgical procedure to reduce a person's dependency on glasses or contact lenses.
Cornea is the clear covering of the front of the eye. LASIK permanently changes the shape of the cornea using an excimer laser. A knife, called a microkeratome, is used to cut a flap in the cornea. A hinge is left at one end of this flap. The flap is folded back revealing the stroma, the middlesection of the cornea. Pulses from a computer-controlled laser vaporize a portion of the stroma and the flap is replaced.
Who can have LASIK surgery
• 18 years old and have had a stable glasses or contact lens prescription for at least two years.

• patient should have a cornea that is thick enough to allow the surgeon to safely create a clean corneal flap of appropriate depth.

• Suffer from myopia (nearsightedness), astig-matism (blurred vision caused by an irregular shaped cornea), hyperopia (farsightedness), or a combination thereof (e.g., myopia with astigmatism)
• Do not suffer from any disease that may reduce the effectiveness of the surgery or the patient’s ability to heal properly and quickly.
Who should not have LASIK surgery
• Have diseases such as cataracts, advanced glaucoma, corneal diseases, corneal thinning disorders (keratoconus or pellucid marginal degeneration), or certain other pre-existing eye diseases that affect or threaten vision.

• Have unrealistic expectations. It is critical for candidates to understand that laser eye surgery, as all surgical procedures, involves some risk. In addition, both the final outcome of surgery and the rate of healing vary from person to person and even from eye to eye in each individual.
LASIK cannot give perfect vision every time for every patient. However, for the majority of LASIK candidates, the surgery improves vision and reduces the need for cor-rective eyewear. In fact, the vast majority of patients with low to moderate nearsightedness achieve 20/40 vision or better, and many can expect to achieve 20/20 vision or better.

Re-treatments (enhancements) may be required to achieve optimal outcomes. Fortunately, it is possible to repeat the laser treatment by lifting the flap, typically about three months after the original procedure. Even after enhancements, vision after LASIK may not be as good as it was with glasses or contact lenses before the procedure. There may be visual aberrations after LASIK—most com-monly, glare and halos under dim lighting conditions. Usually, these are not significant, and resolve within several months of surgery. Occasionally, they are severe enough to interfere with normal activities.

LASIK step by step Procedure
· Anesthetic eye drops are applied to numb the eye for surgery, and the surgeon marks the cornea with water-soluble ink to guide replacement of the flap.
· The surgeon applies a suction ring designed to hold the eye steady and checks the pressure of the eye.
· The surgeon raises a thin layer of the cornea, or corneal flap, with the microkeratome to expose the portion beneath. This part of the procedure is called keratectomy.
· The flap - the outermost 20 percent of the thickness of the cornea - is lifted and reflected to the side.
· The surgeon tests for laser alignment and walks the patient through the fixation process.
· The computer-controlled excimer laser removes the tissue under the flap and reshapes the cornea of the affected eye. In less than 60 seconds, ultraviolet light and high-energy pulses from the excimer laser reshape the internal cornea (the stroma) with accuracy up to 0.25 microns, or 1/4000 of a millimeter.
· Then, the surgeon lays the flap back into its original position and observes the eye for three to five minutes to ensure bonding. Because the cornea bonds quickly, healing is rapid, and the eye does not require stitches.
LASIK surgery, as all surgical procedures, has the risk of complications. Fortunately, the likelihood of visual loss with LASIK is very small. In the many millions of LASIK procedures done so far, less than one percent of patients have experienced serious, vision threatening problems. Most complications represent delays in full recovery and resolve within several months of surgery.
The decision to have LASIK should be an informed one, made in close consultation with an eye care professional.