Eye Care Correction Options

The majority of surgical time is spent preparing both the laser and the patient's eye for the operation. The eye is prepared by anesthetizing it with drops. Laser preparation involves programming the laser's computer to the eye's individual characteristics.

During the procedure the laser sculpts (ablates) the tissue of the cornea. Flattening of the eye is achieved by removing more tissue from its center than its periphery. The sculpting usually lasts between 30 seconds and 3 minutes (however, the total time in the operating room is approximately 5 minutes per eye). The sculpting produces the desired curvature by a computer controlled aperture opening in a circular or linear manner. This allows a different time exposure to the laser pulses to vary throughout the treated area in relation to the required curvature. The patient feels nothing during this process. The eye is held open with a retainer so the patient doesn't have to worry about blinking or closing their eye.

Immediately after surgery the eye is fit with a bandage contact lens, usually for two or three days. The patient normally has little pain or discomfort post-operatively. The patient is however, advised to rest for the remainder of the day following treatment.

Vision is relatively good once the epithelium has grown back and the corneal surface has smoothed itself (usually two or three days). Within the next three weeks, predictable changes occur as healing stabilizes the end result. The vision is quite functional during this period. Stable vision should be accomplished between one to six months after the surgery. Results vary with different degrees of near and farsightedness and astigmatism, and individual healing rates.

What is Monovision / Will I Need Reading Glasses?

Some patients who choose to have refractive eye surgery may already be aware of a condition called presbyopia. This condition is the requirement for reading glasses. Not to be confused with hyperopia (farsightedness), patients who have to wear reading glasses do so because the lens inside the eye has become rigid with age.

A common solution to this is either bi-focal or progressive glasses or specially fitted contact lenses. With contact lenses one lens can be adjusted to intentionally leave you slightly nearsighted. This difference (usually about 1 diopter) is enough to aid your vision and your brain to "accommodate" and lessens the reading glasses requirement. This is known as monovision.

Therefore, just as contact lenses can have different amounts of correction to lessen your dependence on reading glasses, so can laser vision correction. If you presently are presbyopic, wearing bi-focals or monovision contact lenses, our technical team can advise you on how to lessen your dependency on reading glasses presbyopia by intentionally undercorrecting your non-dominant eye. This, in effect, will give you monovision. This concept should not be decided until discussed and demonstrated at time of examination.

If all you require is reading glasses, monovision can be a solution for you, using holmium laser on only one eye.

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