If you’ve been wearing eyeglasses for most of your life you know how much of a hassle they can be. Eyeglasses not only get in the way of doing some of the things you love like playing sports, but as you age you find yourself misplacing them or even accidentally breaking them, costing you hundreds of dollars. The good news is that these days, vision correction surgery is in many cases, eliminating the need for eyeglasses altogether. Say the experts at Webmd.com, recent years have seen huge advances in vision correction surgery which is also known as refractive and laser eye surgery. In fact, both of these surgeries can allow you to see better than at any other time in your life.
How does it work? In general, vision correction surgery reshapes your cornea which is the clear part of your eye front. When light travels through it, it properly focuses on the back of your eye, which is commonly known as the retina. There are even surgical procedures that can replace your eye’s natural lens altogether. In a word, these advances in vision correction are nothing short of miraculous.
According to one Holly Springs eye doctor, sometimes the best way to go about fixing your vision problem is to eliminate it altogether with vision correction procedures. For instance, if you’ve been plagued with nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism, a vision corrective procedure will provide a permanent solution. About 96 percent of patients who undergo laser or refractive eye surgery realize their desired vision almost immediately, seriously decreasing or eliminating the need for glasses or contacts.
What specific types of vision correction procedures are out there? Here are some of the most common and most successful.
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Lasik Eye Surgery
Says Webmd.com, Lasik or what’s technically known as laser in-situ keratomileusis, can work for people who are farsighted, nearsighted, and/or suffer from astigmatism. This eye surgery requires the doctor to make a flap in the outer layer of the cornea to access the tissue under it. The doctor will then use a laser to reshape the tissue so that it focuses light in a proper manner. More recently, some doctors utilize a computer imaging tool called “wavefront technology” that will create a detailed image of your cornea to be used as a detailed guide during the surgical procedure.
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PRK Eye Surgery
One vision correction solution for moderate nearsightedness and farsightedness is PRK, or photorefractive keratectomy. In this procedure, an eye surgeon will use a laser to reshape your cornea. Unlike the Lasik surgery, PRK only affects the surface of the cornea and not the tissue beneath it, making it a simpler but still effective surgical technique.
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RLE Eye Surgery
Refractive lens exchange or RLE, which is also known as clear lens exchange or CLE, are technical terms for the very common vision correction procedure of cataract surgery. In this
instance, a surgeon will make a very small cut at the edge of your cornea, then he or she removes the natural lens and replaces it with a plastic lens. This vision correction surgery can not only correct near and farsightedness, but in some cases it can make the blind see again.
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Prelex Eye Surgery
If you have a condition known as presbyopia, or the loss of flexibility in one or both eyes, an eye surgeon might suggest Prelex, or presbyopic lens exchange. In this case, the surgeon removes your natural lens and replaces it with a multifocal lens implant. This type of lens can help you see both far and near.
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Intacs Eye Surgery
When undergoing intracorneal ring segments or ICR, the surgeon will make a small cut in the corner of your cornea and insert two “crescent-shaped plastic rings” at the outer edge of your eye. The plastic rings are engineered to flatten your cornea and alter the way light focuses on your retina. Although still in use today usually to correct irregular shaped corneas that impede your vision, ICR is an older surgical technique which has largely been replaced by more advanced laser methods.
Nearsightedness and farsightedness are all too common vision impairing conditions. The traditional solution for these problems has always been to purchase expensive eyewear which all too often gets misplaced or broken, costing you a lot of money. But while some people enjoy the fashion benefits of eyeglasses, many others would like to eliminate the need for them altogether. That’s where vision corrective surgery comes in. While it’s true, you might find the notion of having a doctor take a scalpel to your eyes a frightening proposition, 21st century vision correction procedures are light years ahead of where they were decades ago. You just have to see it to believe it.