Laser Eye Treatment
Laser eye treatment is becoming ever more popular as more and more people realize the benefits of corrective eye surgery and eliminating the need for glasses and contact lenses. Seeing well without glasses and contact lenses is the dream of millions of Americans. Modern medical science through laser eye treatment is enabling this dream to come true.
Excimer laser eye treatment is the extremely popular corrective eye surgery for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, and it can permanently eliminate the need to wear glasses or contact lenses for distance vision. The original version of excimer laser eye correction, PRK (photorefractive keratectomy), uses a laser beam to reshape the surface of the cornea (the outer layer of the eye) to diminish nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
Another kind of excimer laser eye treatment, LASIK (laser in-situ keratomileusis), reduces nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism by applying the lazer eye treatment to the deep portion of the cornea. Both types of lasek surgery procedures are quick – usually taking no more than five to ten minutes – and painless. The results, as patients and their doctors will tell you, are impressive.
However, excimer laser eye treatment is not for everyone, and it is not risk free. It is also not 100 percent effective for all patients.
Radial keratotomy, invented in 1973, was the first corrective eye surgery technique used to enable people to see without glasses or contact lenses. Now, several decades later, dramatically advanced laser eye correction techniques using an eye laser controlled by computers perform even more accurate treatments.
Because of the ease of treatment and the accuracy of results, excimer laser eye treatment procedures have become one of the most commonly performed surgeries in the United States. Well over one million excimer laser eye correction procedures will be performed this year in the United States alone, and a similar number in the rest of the world.
The intention of this site is to provide the consumer with important background information concerning excimer laser eye treatment. Every effort has been made to provide accurate information and a balanced viewpoint, but the accuracy of information cannot be guaranteed. When statistics are given, they are usually taken from FDA supervised studies, but multiple studies conducted in different fashions produce varying statistics. The decision to have excimer corrective eye surgery must be based upon an evaluation and critical discussion with your doctor of your specific medical condition, lifestyle, and desires.
