The LASEK Procedure
Confused about LASEK vs. LASIK vs. PRK? PRK belongs in its own category--although all three procedures use an excimer laser to resculpt the cornea. Here's the skinny on LASEK:
1) You have a complete eye exam with diagnostic technology that gathers information about your vision and eye geography.
2) Nurses and an ophthalmologist apply a sterile drape to protect your eyes.
3) You get numbed with a sedative, and your eyes get numbed with eye drops.
4) A special instrument loosens the epithelium around the surgery area.
5) The epithelium is pushed to the side.
6) You look at a target light while a laser reshapes your cornea without disturbing the tissue.
7) A minute or two later, the laser eye surgeon smoothes the epithelium back into place and applies a contact lens bandage.
In LASIK, the ophthalmologist creates a hinged flap in the cornea. After the procedure, your eyes are examined with a slit lamp microscope, since there is an incision in your eye.
Does LASEK seem less complicated than LASIK now? They both carry risks and benefits. The one thing that won't cause you confusion: being able to read the paper without glasses.
LASIK Interest-Free Loans
One of your laser eye surgery options is an interest-free loan option for financing LASIK surgery.
According to the patient finance institution Vision Fee Plan, almost half the people considering laser eye surgery say affordability is the big obstacle to having LASIK. You most likely fall into that category. You may find an interest-free loan from a patient financing provider or bank an attractive LASIK surgery financing option. Many surgeons work with CapitalOne and CareCredit, which offer no-interest loans for up to twelve months, with no prepayment penalty.
Your surgeon may also offer a six-month deferred LASIK surgery financing plan, which features no interest and no loan payments for the first six months--a perfect time to put in that overtime at work. College students just entering the workplace may especially find this valuable. You're young, healthy and active, and you've decided that LASIK is worth the cost.
If you don't qualify for an interest-free loan, know that 9.9% to 14.9% is usually an acceptable rate--the actual rate is dependent on your credit history and the length of the loan.
Ask for literature detailing all the costs of any LASIK financing plan, and be sure that there are no hidden processing fees on interest-free loans.
Read the Fine Print on CK
If you want to read legal documents with small print after having conductive keratoplasty, read your CK eye surgeon's disclaimer first.
While 87 percent of patients could read phone book-sized print (and could see long distance) after the 2004 FDA clinical trial of CK eye surgery to treat presbyopia, some patients can't read fine print with complete clarity. Some patients may still need reading glasses for books, but results in any surgery may vary from patient to patient.
Your ophthalmologist may tell you that you'll need to hang on to your reading glasses two years after the procedure. You can do that to hedge your bets, but your corneas may be stable five, seven or ten years from now. Again, conductive keratoplasty results do depend on the individual patient.
Risks of LASIK Surgery
In every endeavor you'll experience risks. You think that driving another day with poor eyesight is a risk you're not willing to take. Losing your contacts and having your eyes irritated is a risk you don't want to take long-term.
You know that more than one million people in the United States have had LASIK surgery and been satisfied with the results. However, you need to know the risks of LASIK vision correction. The FTC cautions that LASIK eye surgery is too new to predict the effects five years after you have LASIK surgery.
LASIK risks and complications, according to the FTC, include:
* Not being able to see as well, even with glasses or contacts, as you do before surgery--even with new eyeball Wavefront mapping technologies
* Decrease in seeing objects clearly--you may experience blurry or fuzzy vision
* Problems with night vision--you may still require glasses for night driving
* Corneal flap problems such as buttonhole flaps, flaps cut off entirely, ingrowth of cells under the epithelium--LASIK operates in a small area--and dislocated flaps.
* Light sensitivity (may be temporary)
* Dry eye syndrome caused or worsened by LASIK
* Complications from diabetes or high blood pressure
* Corneal scarring
* Irregular astigmatism
* Under- or over-correction of your myopia, hyperopia, etc., so that you may need additional surgery or contact lenses
But, you think, I've acquired 20/20 uncorrected vision! 20/20 uncorrected vision on the Snellen eye chart may not always mean your LASIK surgery was successful. If these LASIK risks and complications occur, you may need:
* Contact lenses
* Retreatments, say with custom LASIK
* Eyedrops--for dry eyes
* Antibiotics for infections
Anything you do carries risk, but when it comes to your sight, you should know the LASIK risks, whether you have healthy eyes or are nearly blind. Discuss the potential LASIK risks with your LASIK surgeon, and ask if you need to consider refractive surgery alternatives.
Changing Eye Prescription
In most guidelines for refractive surgery, you'll find that an eye surgeon requires you to have had a stable prescription for at least a year. You also know that surgeons are usually concerned that fluctuations in eye prescriptions will cause regression.
You think that a changing prescription won't be a problem--you're 50 and older, you're stable and mature.
All bets are off with presbyopia and hyperopia, which get worse as you age because your eyes age, so you could have diopters of +2.00 one year. Two years later, a diagnostic eye exam could reveal that your prescription is +4.00 diopters. CK requires you to have a stable eye prescription.
Yet some CK eye surgeons say that you can have conductive keratoplasty if your prescription is likely to change. Your presbyopia will probably level out to a low-range aberration, +2.00 to +2.25 diopters.
Prescription change, however, is only acceptable after you have the procedure, when your CK eye surgeon can perform enhancements. Your prescription needs to be stable for at least a year before any conductive keratoplasty procedure.