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1. What are the goals of Wavefront LASIK Surgery?
ans. The goal is to eliminate the use of contact lenses and eyeglasses by improving the visual acuity of patient by means of laser thereby, allowing patient to live their life without needing corrective lenses. Refractive errors (ie: nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism can be corrected.
The benefits of Wavefront LASIK Surgery will give the patient a chance to get a better eyesight or “super vision” a visual acuity better than 20/20 and also eliminate side-effects due to inaccurate laser profile. How is this done? The following procedures involve are:
WASCA machine is used to measure the whole eye system deviation called wavefront aberration from a given geometrically perfect reference shape.
TOSCA or “Corneal Topography” - is the irregularity of the contour
the surface of the cornea which is one of the most important refractive surface of the eye.
Eye Tracking – a device where the machine could possibly detect slightest eye movement at a speed of and helps the doctor during surgery.
2. How is LASIK surgery done?
ans. A topical anesthesia (eyedrops) is given and with the use of an instrument called microkeratome, a corneal flap is made. The laser beam is then introduced to vaporize a very thin layer of corneal issue. Surgery will take only a few minutes an a protective eye shield is worn over the eye.
3. How long does a LASIK surgery take?
ans. Surgery depends on how much correction is required and may take only about 15minutes
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4. What benefits do I get after the surgery? And how long they will last?
ans. Since 1991, it has been reported stable result of LASIK surgery. The person will significantly have an improved visual acuity overtime. It is also important to know that eyes can still change as the person age, causing a need for reading glasses.
5. Is there any pain during surgery?
ans. The surgery itself is generally painless, however, there will be a relatively mild pain and discomfort during one to three days after the surgery. Oral medications and eye drops are given to relieved them and allow the patient to resume with his/her routine personal activities.
6. What are possible complications after surgery?
ans. Although rare, possible complications that may arise after surgery are as follows:
- Infection - ratio of 1:5,000-10,0000cases
- Free corneal flap – ratio of 1:1,500cases
- Irregular flap – ratio of 1:1,000cases and surgery is not possible
- Flap wrinkles – ration of 1:1,000cases and occurs when the flap is not repositioned properly at the time of surgery
- Epithelial growth – ratio of 1:300cases and occurs when surface of the corneal flap (epithelial cells) sneak under the flap and grow in the interface underneath the flap.
- Inflammation – ratio of 1:500-1,000cases usually occurs 3days post-OP
- Dryness – majority of the patient experience dryness of eyes after LASIK surgery and is treated with teardrops. Usually, resolve in several weeks.
- Glare, halos and starburst – occurs in about 5-10% of patients who undergone LASIK surgery but usually improves over a period of week or months and depends on the amount of correction done. Patients reported of mild side effects in nature.
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7. Are both eyes done at the same time?
ans. The decision is of your choice. The advantages of doing both eyes at the same are: first, minimize the use of medication and second, minimize the number of visits to the clinic. Most patients, however, choose to have both eyes treated at the same time. Some others prefer to treat eyes separately.Back to top
8. Is it better to do one eye (first) or both eyes at the same time?
ans. To treat one eye (first) or treat both eyes at the same time can be done at patient discretion, however, the patient should not decide out of his/her own convenience. These are both acceptable and the patient may wish to discuss this issue with the doctor.
9.What range of near sightedness can be treated with laser?
ans. LASIK is currently the best surgical option to treat from low to high levels of near sightedness.
10.Can astigmatism be treated by laser?
ans. LASIK surgery can treat both astigmatism and near sightedness at the
same time. No other procedure is done -
11.Can farsightedness be corrected with laser?
ans. Farsightedness of up to 6diopters can be treated with LASIK and reportedly, there has been excellent results.
12.Does patient need to get off from work?
ans. LASIK generally provides good vision the next day and enabling most patients to work immediately. However, for the patient best interest, it is recommended to take at least 2-3days off from work.
13.Will vision return to its original level after surgery?
ans. Some patient may experience a regression of effect after surgery, but not to the pre-OP level. Fine tuning or enhancement surgery can often be done to further to improve the vision of necessary.
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14.What are COMMON side effects of LASIK surgery?
ans. Most common side effects of LASIK surgery includes light sensitivity, halos and dryness. Under correction and over correction may occur and glasses may be needed after surgery to restore perfect vision. In some cases, irregular corneal curvatures and/or haze and these are discussed by the doctor during Comprehensive Eye Examination.
15.What age is required to undergo LASIK surgery?
ans. The patient should be at least 18years old with a stable eye prescription.
16.What happens if the person is currently using contact lens?
ans. As soon as the patient is scheduled for Work-Up Consultation, the patient is advised not to use contact lens for at least three weeks (for hard contact lens) and at least 3days (for soft contact lens) to allow the eyes to get back to its original visual acuity and therefore, the patient’s accurate visual profile can be obtained. The patient may therefore bring eyeglasses if available.
17.Does the patient need to use contact lens after surgery?
ans. In most cases, patients need not any correction after surgery. If full-time glasses or contacts is necessary after surgery, usually a re-treatment can be done to improve the vision and reduce the need for use of glasses. Rarely that one would like to wear contact lens after the surgery, as they can without any trouble.
18.If I decide to get a LASIK surgery, how do I start?
ans. If you have decided to undergo a LASIK surgery, we suggest that you read everything on this web site. You will need a Comprehensive Eye Exam with the doctor to specifically determine your chances for a successful surgery. The eye exam consists of thorough evaluation and analysis of the eyes and person’s visual system. In Wavefront LASIK, WASCA machine is used to measure and analyse the whole refractive deviation from a perfect eye and calculate the laser profile of the individual patient.
It is during Work-Up Consultation, to have your questions about the surgery answered by the doctor.
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19.What causes night time side effects – what to do if they occur?
ans. Nighttime side-effect are caused by residual near sightedness, far sightedness and astigmatism which can be corrected by wearing eyeglasses at night or surgery may be needed. This may also be caused by the size of the pupil and the shape of the treated cornea. Nighttime side-effects include blurring vision at night, glare and starbursts and halos around eyes.
In Wavefront LASIK Surgery, these night time side effects rarely or mostly eliminated because during the Comprehensive Eye Exam, the person’s wavefront analysis is measured as deviated from a normal perfect eye. This process involve a special kind of light to the backside of the eye and the light will reflect back to the detector camera and aberrations are in turn measured by WASCA machine. This new technology also achieve to calculate the person’s individual laser profile and therefore eliminate these night time glares and halos.
20.Other night time side effects and what to do about them?
ans. Nighttime side-effects are treated with medication eyedrops that can be used to constrict the pupil at night and reduce the glares, starbursts and haloes. However, this eyedrop will also cause less light allowed into the eye and thus, one problem traded for another problem is not a viable solution.
Treatments which are not centered properly over the cornea may even worsen the vision and is usually avoided by the doctor because, if it occurs, then it would be difficult to correct.
21.What keeps the flaps in position?
ans. Initially, there is vacuum effect created by the cells lining the inner surface of the cornea. These cells know as endothelial cells, functions a pump to move fluid from within the distance of the cornea into the inner part of the eye thereby, holding the flap in a position.
22. Can I loose my corneal flap?
ans. There is no chance of loosing a corneal flap. A corneal flap is displaced only if the eyes is rubbed shortly after the surgery and this would require repositioning of the corneal flap in the Operating Room.
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23. I’M ALREADY 40YEARS OLD, CAN I STILL HAVE LASIK SURGERY?
ans. The answer is YES. As the sight continues to get worse as you get older and at some point reading glasses will be necessary. For these reasons, the individual may decide to do a “monovision”. It is a refractive surgical procedure where the distance vision for the eyes is set to allow a better close vision. However, is also interesting to note that the person’s amount of residual near sightedness may be different from person to person but what is important is that, with both eyes open, the person may see both far and near objects without dependence on eyeglasses.
24. What is monovision?
ans. Monovision is the use of one for distance and one eye for vision and is one of the option to consider as part of corrective eye surgery. By correcting one eye to focus in the distance and the other eye to focus near distance, the vision part of our brain tends to suppress the image from the eye that is not clear in focus. The patient is not bothered y the eye that is not in focus. Laser is used to create monovision in such as way that the dominant eye focuses at far distance and the non-dominant eye at near distance.
It is important to note that if the person choose monovision and was unable to get used to it, it can be reversed by an “enhancement” procedure on the eye left for near vision. Once the enhancement is performed, the near eye then sees more clearly in the distance and reading glasses are required for all near tasks. The patient may ask the doctor about this.
25. What will be the vision in my reading eye with monovision?
ans. The distance vision in the eye set for reading will be less than 20/20. The reading eye is left slightly near sighted to allow for better close vision. The amount of residual near sightedness may be different for different persons, depending on the age at the time of surgery and how “good” the patient wants the reading to be, how much distance vision they are willing to give up, and how long they want to be able to read before they eventually need reading glasses. Typically, the amount of near sightedness will be between -1.00 to –2.00 diopters. There is no conversion between visual acuity and diopters on the eyechart. (20/20, 20/30, etc). In other words, if the person is left with –1.50diopters, of residual near sightedness, you may 20/40 with that eye in the distance, or you may see 20/100, 20/80 or 20/50. In any case, it is not really important what the distance vision is in the reading eye. What is important is that with both eyes open, you are able comfortably see both near and far for most of your needs.
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26. I tried monovision with contact lens, will it be better to have surgery instead?
ans. It may and it may not, partly because, it depends on how it was tried with the contact lens. Sometime, it takes time for the brain to “adjust” to this way of seeing. Even if everything was done right, there is a certainly a chance that monovision won’t work well.
In a random of patients who have done monovision surgery, 85% end up liking monovision enough to keep it and 15% decided to give it up and have the reading eye set for distance because, either they didn’t like the monovision, or felt the advantage of some reading ability was not worth the distance tradeoffs.
However, if the person is motivated to get a monovision, they may still want to try monovision, even if it did not work with contact lens.
27. How do I decide to do for far and near distance?
ans. Several factors are considered. One is, which is the dominant eye?
Usually (but not always), the dominant eye is set for distance. If this has been done for a while and the patient is doing well with the monovision, the doctor will keep it that way. Part of the purpose of the Comprehensive Eye Exam is to look for all these issues and decide what will work out best.
28. Will monovision affect my ability to do some sport activity?
ans. It depends on the person and the sport. Fast moving sports (ie: tennis, baseball, racing, etc.) may be more affected than the slower sport (ie: golf, basketball, skiing, etc.) Monovision may be more difficult with fast moving activities, because the depth of perception might be affected slightly. Everyone is different therefore, the patient may experience problem on different level.
29. Will I still need to use reading glasses after 40?
ans. It would be helpful that the patient realize that there is no specific cure for presbyopia (old-age vision). Once you are past 40years age range, all refractive corrections involve compromise. If the person have both eyes corrected for good distance vision, you will need eyeglasses for close vision.
It is advisable that the patient aim to have vision corrected for good distance vision and prepare to use reading glasses only when necessary.
30. What is under correction and over correction?
ans. Both are “enhancement” surgical re-treatment procedures to correct or improve the corrected visual acuity following a LASIK surgery.
Prior to undergoing surgery, prospective patients must be informed that the treatment may only be temporary and the effects of re-treatment are unpredictable.
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