Saturday, April 2, 2011

Types of Laser Eye Treatments

Posted in:  Laser,Eye,Treatments,Laser,Eye,surgery,lasik,lasek,PRK,ALK,health,fitness 


Anyone who uses spectacles thesedays or suffers from any eye-vision problems can understand the need and importance of laser-eye treatment. it's not only very effective and quick, but also relatively painless and completely modern.


so, let's have a look at what these treatments are and what are the benefits and risks involved.


Types of Laser Eye Surgery
Lasik is the most familiar and popular form of laser eye surgery, so much so that it's almost used as a generic term for the procedure. But there are actually several different procedures that a doctor can perform when it comes to using a laser to correct your vision.

1. LASIK
What is it : laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis.
That's a fancy way of saying the laser is helping the doctor to remove a certain amount of corneal tissue, thereby reshaping the cornea and improving vision. As we said before, it is the most popular form of laser corrective eye surgery, used to correct astigmatism, myopia and hyperopia, both with and without astigmatism.


What is the procedure :-
During Lasik, your doctor will cut a “hinged flap” in your cornea, lifting it away from the eye.
This allows him or her to get where she needs to go: the tissue underneath that needs reshaping. She then uses a laser to reshape the cornea, flattening or curving it according to where it needs to be corrected.
The flap is then folded back into place, healing with a little bit of time.

Costs :
Costs of Lasik surgery vary widely, but you can generally expect to pay from around to per eye.



2. LASEK
What is it :  laser epithelial keratomileusis.
What's done in it :-
A Lasek procedure is very similar to Lasik, only during surgery, a much thinner piece of the cornea is lifted away.Lasek is a procedure your doctor may recommend if for some reason or other you can't have Lasik. People who have very thin corneas, for instance, sometimes opt for Lasek. (Your doctor is the one who will best be able to determine the thickness of your cornea and which procedure is right for you.)


Some people with thinner corneas choose Lasek over Lasik since it's a less invasive—and seen as a less risky—procedure because it doesn't go as deeply into the tissue bed. You'll sometimes see Lasek referred to as Epi-Lasek. 
Drawbacks of the Lasek procedure include slightly more discomfort than Lasik and a longer healing time.


Costs:
The more precise nature of the Lasek surgery is sometimes reflected in its cost, but it typically runs in a similar price range to per eye.


3. PRK


Stands for : Photorefractive keratectomy . 
What does it do : People with low-to-moderate refractive errors often opt for PRK. In PRK, a thin layer on the surface of the cornea is removed and—unlike Lasek or Lasik—it's never replaced.
The exposed surface of the cornea repairs itself over a period of a few days while covered with a sort of “bandage,” a special contact lens. The cornea continues to heal over a period of a few months, during which time the improvement in vision will become more and more noticeable.


People who have PRK generally have one eye done at a time, due to the length and nature of the healing process. One of the reasons that Lasik has surpassed PRK in popularity is because the healing process is faster and more predictable.


Cost : The cost for PRK is similar to that of other laser eye surgeries, about


VIDEO :  LASER EYE TREATMENTS










4. ALK
Stands For : Automated Lamellar Keratoplasty 
What is it for : it is used in some cases to treat high levels of nearsightedness and mild to moderate farsightedness. 

As in Lasik or Lasek, a small flap is cut in the cornea. Then, your doctor uses microkeratome to remove material under the flap. 
ALK usually takes less than one hour. ALK, like PRK, is beginning to decrease in popularity due to better results and faster healing rates possible with the other procedures. 


5. LTK


What is it : Laser thermokeratoplasty 

What Happens in it :

A relatively new procedure used to treat farsightedness and astigmatism. The heat of a laser beam is used to shrink and reshape the cornea, rather than removing material. 

The healing time for LTK is much faster than other forms of corrective eye surgery because the procedure is less invasive to the eye. 
However, the improvements of LTK do not last as long as those attained with other procedures. 

In general, about half of the corrective effect had been lost two years post-surgery. 

Cost:
The cost is about - per eye.

Talk with your doctor about which risks he thinks might affect you and whether or not he believes laser eye surgery is still right for you.

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