Laser eye treatment

“I just want my eyes fixed up with laser eye treatment”. How many times have I heard that?

Firstly, are you a candidate and what should you look for in a surgeon?

Then consider the range of surgical options that are available to you:

Implantable Collamer Lens

 
This is a newer  and more invasive procedure than the traditional lasik correction. It is idea for patients who have higher prescriptions which are not suitable for lasik.

A small incision is made under local anaesthetic and a small plastic lens is inserted next to the natural lens of your eye. The small incision heals and normal vision is restored in one to two days.

I had a patient who was about -12D shortsighted. She could no longer tolerate her contact lenses and she was getting desperate at the thought of having to wear coke bottle bottom glasses. After the procedure she was zero prescription and 20/20 vision – it worker beautifully for her. She was elated; she even sent me a thankyou card and gave me a bottle of wine.

The procedure is relatively expensive around  $3000 per eye and is not covered by health insurance

Lasik

This is the traditional technique for laser eye treatment. The surgeon cuts a flap of cornea and reshapes the underlying tissue with a laser. When enough tissue has been removed the flap is placed back down.

Here is a clip of the procedure:

There is a very good chance of getting 20/20 vision and the cost is generally around $1000 per eye.

There is also a newer version called customised LASIK where the laser is programmed to remove minute distortions in the optical system of the cornea which results in sharper vision and less distortion.

This is more expensive at around $3000 per eye and isn’t covered by health insurance.

What happens on the day of your laser eye treatment

I find a lot of patients are nervous about the actual procedure. So to calm your jitters I have some info on the seven steps that occur on the day of the procedure. At least one of them includes the medical equivalent of a stiff drink to settle the nerves.

What about reading glasses wearers?

 
You will have noticed that I haven’t discussed reading vision yet.

There is a common misconception that the laser can fix everything. If your long distance vision is perfectly corrected by laser, when you hit your 40’s you will need reading glasses like the rest of us.

There is no escape from your maturing eyesight.

But you do have options.

The commonest one is monovision created by laser rather than contact lenses. If you are considering this option then read about monovision for contact lenses. I would suggest that you trial the monovision option with contacts lenses first before permanently sculpting your eyes, just in case you find the imbalance uncomfortable.

Conductive Keratoplasty

This is commonly used to create the monovision effect.

It does not involve laser eye treatment, instead the surgeon uses radiowaves to heat up the tissue in the cornea to cause a reshaping of the eye. It is a particularly safe technique because it doesn’t require any cutting of the eye.

The procedure takes a couple of minutes and the eye generally heals in one to two days. The cost is around $1500 per eye and you may only need one eye to be treated.

If you do want your focusing back then there is a procedure available.

Accommodating Intraocular Lens

This procedure is completely different to laser eye treatment, it uses a similar surgical technique to cataract surgery, where the existing lens is removed and a hinged silicon lens is inserted. The lens uses the natural eye muscles to change focus just like when you were younger.

Distance vision recovers in one to two days, but it may take up to a month for the near vision to start working.

It is costly at $4500 per eye and invasive. The surgical technique is similar to regular cataract surgery which is widely used and relatively safe.

I have a clip of regular cataract surgery so you can get a feel for what is involved in the procedure.