If you have been wearing contacts or eyeglasses for quite some time now, chances are you have considered or already looked into lasik eye surgery. Lasik eye surgery is a procedure to change the shape of the cornea with the use of an excimer laser. This procedure has enjoyed an increase in popularity due to the many benefits that it offers to patients. If you are planning to undergo lasik eye surgery, you should learn the basic information.

The ideal candidate

You first need to ask your doctor if you are a candidate for lasik eye surgery. In general, the ideal candidate for this procedure should be at least eighteen years old and should have a healthy cornea. The candidate should not have had a significant change in his or her glasses or contacts prescription within the last twelve months. Women who are pregnant and people with certain medical conditions are not ideal candidates for this procedure.

How is lasik eye surgery performed?

If you want to go through lasik, it is important that you understand how the procedure is performed. In most medical centers, pre-operative testing is performed to avoid complications uring the actual procedure. After this testing, the surgeon performs the surgery through the use of a large machine. Although the machine may look intimidating, the procedure does not take too long to be completed. The surgeon uses a knife to cut a flap in the cornea and then switches to the excimer laser for the remainder of the surgery.

Recovery period

Once the surgery is completed, the recovery process begins. Since the cornea is not sutured together after the procedure, the doctor puts an eye patch over it. This patch serves as protection for the cornea.

Patients experience fast recoveries from lasik eye surgery. Most of them even return to work in a couple of days and start doing all of their usual activities with in a couple of weeks.

These are just some of the things that you should know and understand before you undergo lasik eye surgery. Lasik eye surgery information is just what you need to keep you going to achieve that 20/20 vision goal.

By Eddie Tobey

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