10 Facts You Must Know Regarding LASIK and Laser Eye Treatment

Thinking of having laser eye treatment? Below are ten vital things you need to know about lasik.

Fact #1: Not everyone can undergo laser eye treatment. If you wear glasses or contacts, it doesn't mean that you can have laser eye treatment. You should consult with your ophthalmologist to make sure that laser eye treatment is the appropriate procedure for your eye condition.

Fact #2: Lasik is a procedure that you should never take lightly. So if you have determined that laser eye treatment is right for you, the next thing you need to do is find an ophthalmologic surgeon, preferably one who is board certified. Look into his or her credentials and experience. Find out if he or she can provide you with post-op consultations or if you will be referred to a different doctor.

Fact #3: Are you near-sighted or myopic? Do you have astigmatism? If you have any of these vision problems, lasik is a recommended procedure. If you have severe myopia, you may have to undergo several procedures.

Fact #4: If you have a history of dry eye, corneal disease or other eye conditions, lasik is not a recommended procedure.

Fact #5: During a lasik procedure, you will be awake. Thus, your surgeon should explain to you what will happen during the procedure. Likewise, you should express your concerns and questions beforehand so that your surgeon can reassure you.

Fact #6: Post-operative care is very important in a lasik procedure. Thus, you must follow post-op eye care to the letter. For instance, if you are prescribed to use eye drops after lasik surgery, you must apply the eye drops at the prescribed times or frequency. Doing so will help the cornea heal properly.

Fact #7: Lasik surgery is not miracle surgery. Don't expect to come out of surgery with perfect vision. Some patients' visions are corrected to 20/20 or 20/40 while others are not. Lasik surgery does not guarantee perfect results.

Fact #8: Lasik cannot correct presbyopia or far-sightedness that occurs in middle age. If you have this condition and still opt to undergo lasik surgery, you will still end up having to use reading glasses.

Fact #9: Lasik is not a procedure without risks. You should know that like other types of surgery, lasik has risks. You may have complications such as over correction, infections or damage to the cornea.

Fact #10: As with any other health condition, it is very important that you talk with your doctor about possible laser eye treatment or any other alternatives he or she can recommend.

Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Vision-Doctor.com. He provides more eye surgery solutions, LASIK information and details on finding the right LASIK doctor that you can research in your pajamas on his website http://www.vision-doctor.com

Medical Tourism: Corrective Laser Eye Surgery

More and more people are turning to medical tourism to meet their health care needs. And who can blame them? With skyrocketing costs and seemingly endless waiting lists, medical travel is a worthy option to consider. World-class facilities, highly qualified doctors, and state-of-the-art technology are common among many medical destinations.

With the amazing advances in lasers, combined with the creation of new and safer refractive surgical techniques within the past ten years, there are more people heading to their friendly eye doctors to have their vision improved.

Corrective laser eye surgery is a great procedure to couple with medical tourism. It is relatively safe, quick, and the recovery time is short. There is minimal post-operative pain involved.

Let?s take a look at the four most popular corrective laser eye surgery procedures:

- Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) is for nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism eye conditions. This is the most common corrective laser eye surgery. In this procedure, a surgical incision is made to the cornea, creating a flap that is folded out of the way, allowing the surgeon to use the laser for correction. Since a flap is created on the cornea, healing is faster because the flap is replaced and allowed to reattach to the cornea. The entire procedure only takes about 15 minutes, with only 30 to 60 seconds of actual lasering. Many patients experience better vision as early as the day after surgery.

- Laser Epithelial Keratomileusis (LASEK) is similar to LASIK, except that the flap is created in the epithelium, rather than in the cornea.

- Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) is for persons who are nearsighted, who have mild to moderate farsightedness, and astigmatism. The surgeon uses the laser to remove tiny tissue on the surface of the cornea.

- Conductive Keratoplasty (CK) uses a probe as thin as a strand of human hair, utilizing radio frequency (RF) energy. The surgeon uses the probe to reshape the cornea by shrinking small areas of the tissue.

How do these corrective laser eye surgery procedures improve one?s quality of life? Patients who had these procedures were surveyed and noted the following:

- Ability to see on waking

- Freedom from glasses and contact lenses

- Improvement in personal safety

- Better participation in sports and fitness activities

As with any surgery, there are risks involved, and the wise patient will do well to be aware of any and all possible side effects and complications. Some of the most common risks involved in corrective laser eye surgery are:

- Loss of vision

- Dry eyes

- Eye discomfort (usually during the first 24 hours after the surgery) - Irregular astigmatism

- Corneal haze or glaring

- Overcorrected or undercorrected vision

- Inability to wear contact lenses in the future

- Loss of corneal flap, requiring a corneal graft

- Scarring

- Infection

- Glare around lights, including difficulties with night vision and night driving

Some people who may not be good candidates for corrective laser eye surgery includes those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, glaucoma, diabetes, cataracts, and herpes infections of the eye.

It?s important to remember to have a companion in your medical travel to drive and/or accompany you to and from your procedure.

After weighing pros and cons, it?s good to know that there are world-class eye care facilities, offering inexpensive, modern treatment in many medical destinations, such as India, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. When costs may be reduced by half and a nice vacation in a desirable destination gets thrown into the deal, why not consider medical tourism for corrective laser eye surgery?

http://www.medical-travel-asia.com is dedicated in telling the world that Asia is THE place for medical tourism and the right place to come and seek medical help. Asia has so many things to offer to the world, we simply want to tell people WHY.

On top of that, we also happen to know where are the best beaches here in Asia to recuperate after a surgery. Come to Asia if you are seeking medical treatment, get well, and take back some beautiful holiday memories at the same time.

However, http://www.medical-travel-asia.com is NOT engaged in rendering medical service or advice and the information provided on this website is not a substitute for a professional medical opinion. Our website is purely for educational and informational purposes. If you have a medical problem, please contact a qualified health professional.

The Known Risks and Side Effects of Laser Eye Treatments

Laser eye treatment is a fairly safe procedure for correcting various eye impairments. The procedure has a 95% success rate. With the technological advances made in the last several years, laser eye treatment is now the recommended way of treating vision problems. In fact, laser eye treatment has become so popular that more and more people are deciding to undergo laser eye surgery so they can say goodbye to glasses and contact lenses for good.

However, like any other procedures, laser eye treatment does have some risks involved. About five percent of the cases experience any side effects of laser eye treatment.

A few of the common side effects or risks of laser eye treatment are:

Undercorrection or Overcorrection -- Not all patients will respond to the laser eye treatment perfectly. Even after laser eye surgery, a doctor may still prescribe a patient to wear corrective lenses in order to have clear vision. A doctor may also recommend an enhanced laser eye surgical procedure to improve the initial procedure that resulted to undercorrection or overcorrection.

Eye Infection -- Although the chances of the eye developing an infection from a laser eye treatment is very low, there is still risk of this happening. When an eye infection develops after laser eye treatment, the healing process may take slower.

Halo Effect -- Caused by an optical effect when it is dim or dark, the halo effect may be experienced by a patient after laser eye surgery. A patient will see halos at night for about a week or two. The halo effect is caused by the untreated peripheral cornea. If you've undergone laser eye surgery and experience the halo effect for more than two weeks, let your doctor know immediately. You should also avoid driving for at least a week if you are experiencing the halo effect as a result of laser eye surgery.

Flap Loss -- During laser eye surgery, a flap of tissue is created over the cornea. This flap of tissue may come off if a patient injures herself or directly touches her eye within 24 hours of the surgery. The flap of tissue needs to remain where it is for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the tissue will easily come off.

Dry Eye -- Some patients who undergo laser eye surgery experience dry eye, a condition wherein the eye is not able to produce enough tears to keep the eye clean and moist. Patients who develop dry eye may have a burning sensation in or irregular blurring of the affected eye. Patients who develop this problem after surgery are usually prescribed with an intensive drop therapy.

The risks and side effects of laser eye treatment that were mentioned above are real, but they occur in less than five percent of patients. Each day, thousands of laser eye surgical procedures are performed successfully, with patients coming out of surgery with their visions restored.

For more LASIK and laser eye surgery risks visit Vision-Doctor.com located at http://www.vision-doctor.com where you will also find helpful information on eyeglasses, sunglasses and discount contact lenses.