Be it a 70-year-old person or a 7-year-old child, having to wear specs or contact lenses is a pleasure to no one at all. But, as soon as the prescription is handed to us, most of us start looking for ways to improve our eyesight.
Lucky for us, operations being the quickest and surest way of doing that has led to a lot of advancement in the field of vision corrective surgeries in the last couple of decades.
Corrective surgery is a procedure that reshapes the cornea to improve its refractive ability or, in other words, its ability to make sharp images and decrease or, better yet, eliminate your dependency on specs. Presently, there is more than one type of procedure for vision correction. Here are 4 of the most common ones:
- SMILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction)
The smile eye surgery is a bladeless, non-invasive laser technique that does not involve flap making and gives quicker results. It is the latest advancement in the refractive treatments branch of medicine, newer than LASIK and is high- preferred by many patients across the globe because of its short recovery period, lesser side effects and painlessness. In laser smile eye surgery, a lenticule or a disc-shaped piece of corneal tissue is created using a femtosecond laser, which is then gently extracted by the ophthalmic surgeon through an incision of not more than 4mm. Each eye takes about 10-15 minutes, and patients are allowed to resume most of their daily activities in the next 3-4 days.
- LASIK
A technique that precedes smile eye surgery, Laser-assisted in situ keratomileuses, commonly known as LASIK, is widely preferred with a high success rate. It has been in practice for over 15 years. In this operation, a flap or a 20-25mm incision is made in the cornea, which is then lifted to expose the underlying tissue to an excimer laser, reshaping it to the extent of your refractive error. The flap is then closed, and the eye takes one week to 10 days to heal completely.
- PRK
Photorefractive Keratectomy is also a laser-assisted technique and highly effective. In this process, numbing eye drops are given to patients, and an eye holder is placed on lids to stop them from blinking. The surgeon then uses an alcohol solution, brush or blade to scrape the outer epithelial layer to expose the cornea to the laser that has the exact measurements of your eye. You will be asked to focus on a light to stop your eyeballs from moving during the operation. After the procedure, non-prescription lenses will be placed on your cornea to help them heal, for the epithelial layer will grow back and prevent infection.
- LASEK
Laser-Assisted subepithelial Keratectomy is a procedure that can be placed between LASIK and PRK in terms of technique and recovery time. The operation will start with the doctor administering topical anaesthesia and an alcohol solution into your eyes to make the thin, epithelial layer on the cornea softer. This layer is then detached from the underlying corneal tissue, folded or rolled back, and one laser is used to reshape the curvature of your exposed cornea. The thin layer is then placed back and allowed to heal for a few weeks.
Though all of them are laser-assisted, there are a lot of differences in the procedure, healing periods, costs and side/effects of these surgeries. Make sure to consult your doctor and discuss which one suits you the best depending on your condition.
