Caring for your eyes – by Dr. Arun Gulani, Jacksonville LASIK Surgeon
Normal Vision
Just like a camera, the eye has a viewfinder (called the cornea) a shutter (called the iris) and a lens. Normal, clear vision occurs when light rays pass through them and the image focuses directly on the film (called the retina). When light rays don’t converge and focus directly on the retina, this results in “refractive errors” and blurry vision.
Nearsightedness (myopia)
This occurs when the cornea is curved too steep in relation to the length (front to back) of the eye. This bends the light more sharply and makes the image focus in front of the retina, as opposed to directly on it. When this occurs, near objects can be seen clearly, but objects in the distance are blurry. Advanced Lasik surgery treats this refractive problem by slightly flattening the corneal curvature, so the focal point of the image is moved back and directly on the retina. Read more
Lasek—Who Can Benefit?
LASEK (Laser Epithelial Keratomileusis) is a hybrid of LASIK (Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis) and PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy).
· LASIK—a laser surgery procedure in which a flap is created in the surface layer of the cornea (called the epithelium) with a microkeratome blade, and then a computer-controlled excimer laser is used to reshape the underlying cornea. The flap is then replaced and heals by itself, protecting the treated area underneath it.
· PRK—a laser surgery procedure where instead of creating a corneal flap, the surgeon outright removes part of the corneal surface by gentle scraping. Then the computer-controlled excimer laser reshapes the underlying cornea as with LASIK. Because the surface cells were removed, they must regrow, so recovery time is a bit longer. Read more
The History of Laser Procedures
The LASIK-procedures were first adopted by a Spanish ophthalmologist Jose Barraquer in Colombia. In 1950 he invented the very first microkeratome in his clinic in Bogotá, which was intended to cut a thin flap in the cornea and in doing so, alter the shape of the cornea.Barraquer was also the first to study, how much and how should the cornea be altered to raise visual acuity to provide stable and long-term results.
His procedures were called keratomileusis.The technology was later enhanced by Svjatoslav Fjodorov in the 1970s in Russia, who invented the RK-method (radial keratotomy) to correct the eyes. During the RK-procedure a diamond knife is used to make 4-6 incisions 2 mm in depth, which extended from the colored to the area line of the white part of the eye, and right after the operation a person starts to see. This procedure had nothing to do with lasers.
What is PRK?
Laser was put to play in the 1980s when a German Theo Seiler worked out the PRK-method (photorefractive keratectomy; later LASEK-method). The first operation based on the PRK-method was performed at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in 1996 by Dr. Dimitri Azar. Read more
