What you should expect before, during and after Lasik

Before sugery

There are several steps that you'll be subjected to before the LASIK surgery takes place. These steps include:

1- Eye Examination: The surgeon will examine and measure your eyes. Examination covers: corneal thickness (a thick cornea is required for LASIK), topographic wavefront map of the cornea to detect astigmatism and irregularities, and size of the pupil.

2- General assessment: The surgeon will review your medical history to make sure you are an appropriate candidate for surgery. He will look for history of dry eye, corneal scarring or other regularities, cataracts, presbyopia (age related changes) and other eye/vision diseases or disorders. He will also ask you about your general heath history and medication that you are currently using.

3- Other: Other preparations of the LASIK operation include: interruption of using creams, lotions, make ups, perfumes and contact lenses.

During the Surgery

The LASIK operation is a very short procedure, the whole process needs around 10 minutes. The operation then starts and it includes 3 steps:

1. Step1: Preparing the eye: you will be given anesthetic eye drops to avoid any pain during the operation and a suction ring will be placed on the eye to prevent from moving and creating suction to the cornea. At this stage your vision might blur or go dark and you might feel some pressure on your eye.

2. Step2: Creating the corneal flap: the surgeon will start creating the flap using microkeratome or Intralase Lasik, and then the flap is pulled away. You might feel some discomfort at this stage; you will be hearing a low whirring sound and might see some shadows interrupting the light flowing from the light source.

3. Step3: Reshaping the Cornea: The underlying corneal layer is now exposed. You will be asked to focus on a light and the surgeon will start the laser. Very minute amounts of the corneal tissue will be very precisely removed by the computer programmed laser based on previously made measurements. You'll likely feel no pain, might hear a slight clicking noise and possibly smell burning hair.

4. Step4: Finishing the operation: The flap is repositioned over the cornea and smoothed. You might be giver additional eye drops and your eye may be shielded for protection.

After The surgery

After your surgery you need to get proper rest. The surgeon might prescribe medication for pain and antibiotics to prevent inflammation. With most people vision improves right away after the operation, while others may experience some side effect symptoms that may last for few days or weeks. Symptoms include: dry eye, halos, glares, starbursts, sensitivity to light or loss of contrast sensitivity to forms and colors.

A post-operative visit will be scheduled for you so the surgeon can assess the results of the operation and the healing process.