• $1,000 Towards No-Blade Femto-LASIK Surgery on Both Eyes

LASIK Surgery

Do you rely on glasses and contact lenses to get through your day? Are you sick of it? If you answered yes, you are not alone. Millions of Americans live with nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism – but they don’t have to. Permanent vision correction is more popular today than ever, and for good reason. Procedures like LASIK surgery are helping patients live lives less dependent on glasses and contact lenses. WHAT IS LASIK SURGERY? LASIK surgery, or laser-assisted in situ Keratomileusis, is the most popular form of laser vision correction in the US. LASIK corrects nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. These vision conditions have something in common: a misshapen cornea. In order to correct these vision problems, the cornea must be reshaped. LASIK surgery has a great track record, and many patients who undergo LASIK achieve 20/25 vision or better.

Am I a candidate?

LASIK surgery isn’t for everyone. There are many factors that may disqualify you from undergoing LASIK. You will need to meet certain criteria for LASIK surgery:

• Over the age of 18
• Not pregnant or nursing
• No previous eye injury or disease
• Have generally good health

The only way to know for sure whether or not you are a candidate for LASIK surgery is to book a consultation with a LASIK surgeon.

The LASIK procedure

LASIK surgery is fairly straightforward. Once you’re in the clear, you can book your surgery! To start, your LASIK surgeon will numb your eyes, and you will be given a mild sedative to ease any nervousness. Your eyelids will be kept open with a lid speculum, so you do not need to worry about blinking during surgery. Once your eyes are prepped, your surgeon will begin by creating a thin, circular flap on your cornea using a femtosecond laser. Once this flap is created, it is pulled back to expose the inner layers of your cornea. From there, your surgeon will use an excimer laser to reshape the cornea. Once the necessary adjustments have been made, the flap will be smoothed over. There are no stitches required after LASIK surgery!

LASIK: Better Vision with a Short Recovery

The doctor will determine your eligibility, but LASIK is a highly effective procedure in most cases. Read our guide to learn how a flash of light can restore your vision for life.

Superman averted many disasters thanks to his ability to shoot lasers from his eyes, but such powers are only fantasy; in real life, humans can save things only by shooting lasers into their eyes. Short for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, LASIK is a type of eye surgery used to correct certain vision problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

Such conditions result from a misshapen cornea, the transparent part of the eye that refracts light so it can focus on the retina. Like other forms of refractive surgery, LASIK corrects this by reshaping the cornea, but first the doctor must make a small incision in the cornea’s outer layers. This creates a hinged flap, which they pull back before using a precision laser to reshape the tissues beneath—a process that often takes less than a minute. The flap is then put back in place, and the eye is left to recover, often in only one or two days. Most patients enjoy 20/20—or sometimes only a respectable 20/40—vision once the effects are felt in full, usually within three to six months.

Not everyone is a good candidate for LASIK surgery, and only a consultation with a licensed doctor truly can determine a patient’s eligibility. For instance, the procedure is not recommended for people with diabetes or certain eye conditions, and it can’t correct presbyopia—the gradual, natural aging process that causes close-up objects to get blurrier as they become antiques. An older procedure known as PRK—or photorefractive keratectomy—is a common alternative in which a doctor removes the superficial corneal cells from the outside rather than cutting a flap. PRK has a lengthy and sometimes painful recovery period, however, making it less popular. Still, as late as 2006, the US Navy only allowed its pilots to undergo PRK, deeming LASIK too risky—if a pilot had to eject from their plane, for instance, the resulting force might dislodge the flap. That policy since has been ejected itself, and today naval aviators easily can receive waivers to fly alongside the country’s laser-mounted eagles with laser-corrected eyes.