Tag: Laser Vision Correction - page 4

What is Myopia and What are the Correction Options?

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is the most common refractive error of the eye a situation where the eye does not refract light or bend properly to a single focus to view images clearly. In this case, close or near objects look clear while there is poor distance vision which causes distant objects to appear blurry. However, myopia is not an eye disease, but an eye focusing disorder.

Although myopia has a genetic link, its effect is usually more driven by environmental stress associated with near work such as computer use, reading, hand games, and a lack of quality outdoor time. In fact, an increasing cause of myopia is because of the adaptation of the eyes to prolonged periods of near work. Therefore, myopia is referred to as a “nearsighted” disorder one that impacts between 25-40 percent of the total U.S. population today.

Myopia – Correction Options

Myopia is a major health concern today with increasing prevalence over time. The main correction or treatment options include the use of glasses, contact lenses, and LASIK surgery.

Glasses

The use of glasses is the most common correction option for myopia especially with children. Correction glasses correct the angle through which light hits the retina. An eye doctor, ophthalmologist or optometrist, is best placed to examine your eye, testing your vision with the use of focus exercises and eye charts to arrive at the exact prescription for the disorder.

Contact Lenses

Eye examinations and vision tests are also used to determine the exact lens prescription for a patient just as they do for glasses. The mechanism of operation of contact lenses is like that of glasses they change the direction through which light enters the eye. However, contact lenses are immensely thinner than glasses due to their proximity to the cornea. There are two different types of contact lenses, soft lenses, and rigid gas-permeable lenses.

Soft Lenses

Soft lenses are designed with flexible soft plastic that allows it to adhere to the eye surface easily. Soft lenses cover a large portion of the eye including the iris, pupil, and even extending to the white. While some soft contact lenses are designed to be worn for a specified period before they are disposed, others can be taken out after use, cleaned, and stored properly overnight for use again.

Rigid gas-permeable Contact Lenses

In comparison to soft lenses, rigid lenses are a lot smaller covering the pupil and slightly extending into the iris. Rigid lenses are made of a thin rigid plastic and they float on the eye tears like soft lenses, while oxygen passes through the lens to the eye surface. It may become necessary to clean the lenses when an eyelash or dust particle gets between the eye and the contact lens.

LASIK (Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) Surgery

Although contact lenses and eye glasses are myopia correction options, they are only temporary. Distant objects would still appear blurry if you are not using them. Laser surgery on the other hand, is a permanent myopia correction option which does not require any daily cleaning or corrections. It is the most common refractive error treatment option which adjusts the shape of the cornea to allow passage of light through it, while light hits the retina just at the right angle.

If you are looking to reduce or even get rid of your eye glasses and/or contacts let us at Rohr Eye & Laser Center help you! We offer several types of LASIK eye surgery including PRK, AK, CK, Cataracts surgery and more. We perform all these eye laser treatments with state of the art equipment. We are a leader in laser vision correction, and our goal is to help you achieve superior vision. Contact us today or view our website http://www.michiganlasik.com/  to schedule an appointment.

 

Is LASIK Safe For Seniors?

If you have some or a combination of the most common eye annoyances such as blurry vision, spots or night glares, then it is worth seeing an eye doctor or an optometrist who will examine your eyes for both vision and health problems. In some cases, eye doctors may provide low vision care or vision therapy, or correct refractive errors by prescribing contact lenses and or eyeglasses.

An ophthalmologist, on the other hand also specializes in vision care and will also perform eye exams, diagnose and treat disease, prescribe medications and perform eye surgery. An optician will use prescriptions authorized by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist to fit and sell your eyeglasses.

Understanding LASIK

So, when is LASIK vision correction necessary, who performs the procedure, what vision problems can the surgery treat, and most importantly, is it safe especially for seniors? Short for laser-assisted in-situ keratomileuses, LASIK is an FDA approved procedure that has proven to be a very safe and effective way to treat and correct common vision problems such as astigmatism, near and farsightedness.

While LASIK may not be suitable for people with strong lens prescriptions, such as a high degree of short-sightedness, however, the eye laser surgery can also be used to correct an aging effect that makes it hard for an individual to focus on things up-close using a technique known as monovision LASIK.

What To Expect During LASIK Procedure

The most important goal of eye laser surgery is to alter the shape of the cornea, so it does a better job of focusing images onto the retina for sharper vision. An eye surgeon performs LASIK using a cool, non-thermal beam of light that is computer controlled. The procedure doesn’t hurt because the surgeon places anesthetic eye drops in your eye first, then proceeds to cut across the cornea of the eye, raises a flap of tissue and carries out reshaping to correct your vision. While the entire procedure takes approximately 15 minutes per eye, the laser treatment only takes less than a minute.

People who qualify for eye laser surgery report an immediate improvement in their vision with no complications or side effects and because there’s usually no stitches or bandages required after eye laser surgery, recovery is also very quick. Therefore, anyone over 18 years and meets the requirements can benefit from LASIK procedure, this includes seniors too.

Are You Eligible For LASIK?

An eye care specialist can help you determine your eligibility for LASIK, but the general guidelines are:

  • You must be 21 years and older and have healthy eyes, which means your eyes must not have any conditions that will affect postoperative healing, including eye infections, severe dry eye, glaucoma, cataracts, a degenerative or autoimmune disease
  • Your vision must also be stable for at least a year before surgery
  • Pregnant or nursing women are not eligible as hormonal levels can affect the shape of the eye

Therefore, consider eye laser surgery if you are tired of fumbling with contact lenses or eyeglasses and you meet the above requirements.

If you are looking to reduce or even get rid of your eye glasses and/or contacts let us at Rohr Eye & Laser Center help you! We offer several types of LASIK eye surgery including PRK, AK, CK, Cataracts surgery and more. We perform all these eye laser treatments with state of the art equipment. We are a leader in laser vision correction, and our goal is to help you achieve superior vision. Contact us today or view our website http://www.michiganlasik.com/  to schedule an appointment.

 

Lasik Eye Surgery Over 40

The laser assisted in situ keratomileusis surgery, also known as LASIK surgery is a laser eye surgery employed in the treatment of astigmatism (blurred vision), hyperopia (farsightedness) and myopia (nearsightedness)

It is a type of refractive surgery and the procedure entails the reshaping of the cornea with a laser or microkeratome for better positioning. This ensures that light entering the eye correctly focuses on the retina and the result is an improved and clearer vision. It is an outpatient procedure that takes about 10 minutes for each eye. Results are often visible within the next 24 hours after surgery while vision takes between few days and several weeks to stabilize.

LASIK is much preferred because it reduces and in many cases eliminates the need for glasses or contact lenses. But, the LASIK eye surgery is not for everyone. Your optometrist will examine you and decide this based on certain factors that will determine if you are a good candidate or not.

A lasik candidate needs to be at least 18 or 21 years old, depending on the laser to be used. The age limit is a necessary precaution because for candidates younger than 18 years of age, growth is still occurring in different parts of the body as well as the eye. It is only in extreme cases that candidates below 18 are considered for the lasik eye surgery. This rarely occurs though as there is an increasing necessity for this surgery by candidates aged 40 years and above due to eye-related problems associated with middle age or developments due to lifestyle.

The older a patient is with any of the listed eye problems, particularly farsightedness, the higher the tendency for worsening if nothing is done about it. Lasik eye surgery offers men and women over 40, a chance to see better without having to depend on contact lens or glasses for their daily activities.

In fact, once you are over 40, you need to see your doctor for periodic tests as some of the considerations for the surgery, such as presbyopia, hyperopia and myopia, crop up with age and are true even for those who have had seemingly perfect vision all their life.

This is to be expected though because certain features of the eye such as the lens, change with age and cannot be expected to function optimally as in the past.

The lasik eye surgery is a painless and safe procedure with immediate results. It is a selective procedure and may not be the go to option if you have any eye defect other than loss of reading and distance vision

It is however prospect to be expected and okay to consider it as a better option and permanent solution than glasses and contact lens once you’re over 40. You however need to see your doctor first or a Lasik surgeon before you decide and once you reach a decision, go through the options and processes available for you together.

Thanks to an advance research and technology, high tech lasik technology is in use today with remarkable results to show for it.

Learn more about laser vision surgery from our professional ophthalmologists including correction for glaucoma, cataracts, astigmatism, dry eyes, and more.  To contact an eye doctor near you to discuss corrective eye surgery visit our website at http://www.michiganlasik.com/ or call us to make an appointment at 877.579.0202.

Mistakes to Avoid After Laser Vision Correction

Immediately after laser vision correction surgery, your eyes will feel gritty and watery for about three or four hours. During this time, while you are conscious of your eyes, it’s easy to remember that you have just come out of surgery and you should be taking extra care of them.

You will have been told to go home and rest your eyes during this period, and you will probably have been given anesthetic eye drops to administer should you feel any discomfort.

The eyes recover quickly, however, and it becomes easy to forget that they are still in the healing stage. Once a few hours have passed your vision will be starting to improve, and you will be able to return to work within the week, if not the next day.

Even though it may feel like your eyes are fully recovered, they are still healing, so it’s important you don’t make the following mistakes during this period.

During the first 48 hours after eye surgery, you should avoid touching your face, and also avoid getting water on them so as to prevent infection.  You are at greater risk of rubbing the eyes during sleep. be sure to wear protective eyewear when sleeping or napping.

The bright light of outdoors can be painful for a few days after eye surgery so always have a quality pair of sunglasses on hand for a few weeks.

The first week is critical to the healing process so all forms of sport should be avoided (especially swimming). Once the first week has safely passed, you are now good to go and can safely return to all of your normal activities.

It is advisable that over the next four weeks you use goggles for swimming and avoid steam rooms and saunas. More than a few surgeries will recommend that you avoid swimming altogether for the first four weeks.

Learn more about laser vision surgery from our professional ophthalmologists including correction for glaucoma, cataracts, astigmatism, dry eyes, and more.  To contact an eye doctor near you to discuss corrective eye surgery visit our website at http://www.michiganlasik.com/ or call us to make an appointment at 877.579.0202.

A Guide To Understanding Your Eyes

To understand the LASIK procedure it is crucial to understand your eyes.  How do we see?  What takes place within your eye to allow it to process images and give us the gift sight?  They eye is made up of several different parts, one being the cornea.  The cornea, together with the lens refracts light rays so that they focus on the retina.  The retina is a layer of light-sensing cells that line the back part of the eye.  It is the job of the retina to take the light rays and convert them into little impulses that are sent to the brain to create images. Any light rays that don’t focus on the retina give you blurry vision and are known as refractive errors.  This refractive error is what is corrected to bring you better sight with glasses, contacts or eye surgery.

When the eye has imperfections to the shape within the eyeball itself, the cornea or the lens a refractive error will occur.  The four basic refractive errors are:

1)      Myopia:  The term that is commonly used for Myopia is nearsightedness.  This means that only objects that are close are clear.

2)      Hyperopia: The term that is commonly used for Hyperopia is farsightedness.  This means that only objects that are far are clear.

3)      Astigmatism: Astigmatism causes the images to be blurry no matter if they are close or far away.

4)      Presbyopia: The term that is commonly used for Presbyopia is aging eye.  This usually occurs to the adult population between forty and fifty making it difficult to see things that are close.  Reading glasses help.  This is a condition that cannot be treated using LASIK.

Now that you know more about the eye and the different ailments that can affect them it is time to consider if you are a candidate for LASIK.

  • LASIK can only be performed on patients over eighteen years old.  People younger than eighteen still have changing vision.  Some ophthalmologists prefer to operate on patients over twenty one.
  • Patients that are pregnant or nursing are not candidates for LASIK. Pregnancy changes some women’s vision.
  • Check out the list of medications that you cannot take if you are considering LASIK eye surgery.  Some drugs like Accutane and oral Prednisone are not to be taken if you are considering eye surgery.
  • You must have good eye health and your eye prescription should have been stable for awhile.
  • Your personal health should be good.  If you have diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, cataracts, retinal diseases or cornea disorders your eye doctor may recommend that you don’t have Laser eye surgery.
  • If you have dry eye from wearing contact lenses, medications or some other reason your eye doctor may also recommend that you forgo LASIK eye surgery.

To better understand your vision issues as well as the risks and rewards involved in LASIK it is important that you meet with a local eye surgeon.  They will provide valuable information that can help you determine if you are a proper candidate for LASIK.

Rohr Eye & Laser Center out of Grand Blanc, Michigan offers the most advanced technology in eye surgery available to suit your lifestyle.  To see what the leader in laser vision correction and cataract surgery has to offer you can find more information at http://www.michiganlasik.com.

Living Life Without The Hassle Of Glasses Or Contact Lens

If you are one of the millions of people that are living life with the hassles of wearing glasses and contacts I bet you are also one of the million that have thought about Lasik eye surgery.  Lasik is a procedure used to correct vision by reshaping your cornea using a laser. The cornea of your eye is the clear round area that is shaped like a dome in the front of your eye.  Lasik improves the way the eye centers light onto the retina.  Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis or Lasik for short is growing in popularity for the many ways it eases the life of contact and eye glass wearers.

There are a few things to think about before going ahead with Lasik eye surgery.  Below you will find a list of the top items to consider before making an appointment with your Lasik eye doctor.

As with any surgery there are complications that can arise.  Take this into consideration especially with elective procedures.  Lasik eye surgery is a procedure performed on one of the most delicate areas of the human body, the eye.

Lasik is not able to be reversed.  If you are unhappy after the procedure has been done you cannot undo it.

Laser eye surgery has been done and will continue to be done by millions of people. This being said however, Lasik is not a procedure for everyone.  Do not be persuaded by the sheer volume of people who have gone done it before you.  Make sure Lasik is something that is beneficial to you and your lifestyle.

If you are looking for perfect vision make sure you understand that Lasik does not guarantee perfect version.   Nine out of ten patients report vision between 20/20 and 20/40.  This however may not be clear, sharp and in focus enough for some precise work or some detailed leisure activities.

Be sure you understand your personal vision issue before you go forth with Lasik.  The laser eye surgery does not correct or prevent all issues you may have in regards to your vision. Presbyopia, also known as age related focusing power for seeing items near cannot be corrected or prevented.  With this being said note that even after Lasik you may find yourself wearing reading glasses later in life.

It is possible overtime for the benefits of Lasik to diminish and for a retreatment to be needed.  This happens to about ten percent of Lasik patients.  Although this is incredibly rare it is a possibility and is something to consider before having the surgery.  This is most likely to occur in patients with incredible nearsightedness or farsightedness.

Another consideration is that Lasik eye surgery is not covered by most insurance companies.  This means that the cost of the surgery is out of pocket.  The good thing is that most Lasik eye surgery providers offer payment plans as well as credit options that make the surgery feasible.

Lasik surgery is a blessing for so many people that have been living their lives with the use of contacts and glasses.  Laser eye vision correction gives patients a chance to live an active lifestyle without the hassle surrounding contact lenses and glasses.

Rohr Eye & Laser Center offers the most advanced technology in eye surgery available to suit your lifestyle.  To see what the leader in laser vision correction and cataract surgery has to offer you can find more information at http://www.michiganlasik.com.

Precautions After Lasik Vision Correction

When it comes to advancement in medical procedures one that stands out is Lasik eye surgery.  Throughout the past decade eye surgeons have been working together to correct eyesight permanently using lasers to reshape the corneas thus taking away the need for glasses and contacts. Lasik eye surgery is completely pain free and requires only minor, temporary changes to your lifestyle in order for your eyes to heal.  Avoid the following activities following your Lasik eye procedure to prevent complications from arising.

For the first few weeks after your Lasik eye surgery you should take great care in avoiding bright light.  Your Lasik eye surgeon will provide you with a pair of dark sunglasses that should be warn all the time.  They will help create dim light that your eyes can easily adjust to.  The sunglasses are meant to block out bright light, including sunlight as well as protecting your newly operated eyes.

Your Lasik doctor will also supply a pair of sleep goggles.  These goggles should be warn for at least two weeks anytime you are sleeping.  The goggles are provided to keep you from damaging your eyes.  They protect against nighttime rubbing, scratching and accidental poking.

As a new Lasik patient you will be required to sit out driving for a few days, especially nighttime driving.  The healing process after Lasik is not long or complicated however as with any surgery or procedure you will require patience.  It may be hard to be dependent on someone else to drive you when needed but it is advisable until your eyes are completely healed.

Women that undergo Lasik treatment should avoid all make up and scents for at least two weeks after the surgery.  Make up irritates the eye area and can slow the healing process.

Keep your eyes moisturized at all times.  Eye drops are an essential part of the healing process.  Adding drops to your eye will promote hydration as well as keeping the area moist.  Wash your hands thoroughly before applying the eye drops to the area to avoid passing germs and bacteria to your healing eye.

Another consideration after Lasik is exercise.  You will want to avoid exercise at all for the first few days after Lasik.  After that slowly start exercising again avoiding strenuous activities.  This helps with the healing process and gives your eyes adequate time to adjust and heal.

Avoid showering for the first few days after Lasik.  If you must shower avoid washing your hair and facial area close to your eyes.  Goggles should be warn in the shower as a precaution.  You will want to avoid harsh chemicals as well as directly washing the eye area. It is also so important to continually wash your hands to keep free of any bacteria.

Rohr Eye & Laser Center offers the most advanced technology in eye surgery available to suit your lifestyle.  To see what the leader in laser vision correction and cataract surgery has to offer you can find more information at http://www.michiganlasik.com.