When glasses or contact lenses become a trouble in your life, Lasik surgery offers an alternative that can give you clear vision again. The innovative technology treats the most common types of refractive errors that you may know as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. Lasik surgery offers a highly successful approach to permanently improving your vision without ever having to use glasses or contact lenses again.

Refractive errors (GLASSES & CONTACT LENS)

Your ability to see depends on the way that your eyes bend (refract) light. A refractive error occurs when they do not bend it perfectly, preventing the eye from focusing light correctly. Nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism are common refractive errors that glasses and contact lenses can correct temporarily and surgery improves permanently.

Rays of light can bend when they pass through water or a cornea such as the clear front surface of your eye. An abnormally shaped cornea bends the light imperfectly leading to the refractive error. Anatomical features affect the ability of your eyes to refract light and focus properly.

• Eye Length: While it may not seem to you that the shape of your eye is too long or too short, either condition can affect your vision. You may have nearsightedness if it is too long or farsightedness if it is too short.
• Curvature of the Cornea: The lens on the front of your eye needs to maintain an entirely spherical shape to refract a proper image. Refractions from irregular cornea shapes can produce astigmatism.
• Curvature of the Lens: When the curve of the lens conforms to the shape of your cornea and eye length, there is no refractive error. However, a lens that is too flat causes farsightedness, and a curve that is too steep may produce nearsightedness.

Myopia

Myopia meansnearsightedness, that means the near objects are clear but the distant objects appear blurry. If you have myopic eyes, the long length of your eyeball from front to back or deviations in the shape of your eye structures make your vision inadequate. In some patients, heredity is a factor, and other influences on your eye structure may include your age, ethnicity, gender or even how you use your eyes. The occurrence of myopia among teenagers in India is about 13 percent, and scientists note that the use of 300 million smartphones may have an impact on the statistic.

Hyperopia

Farsightedness or hyperopia makes distant objects easier for you to see than those that are close to you. Symptoms may not attract your attention when you are young, but they may eventually create blurry vision when you look at objects that are both near and far away. Some indications that you are farsighted include eyestrain, headaches, squinting and blurry vision when you look at something that is close to you. Hyperopia occurs when eyeballs are too short or when the lens or the cornea has an abnormal shape. It can affect children as well as adults, and it may occur as an inherited condition. The frequency of occurrence of hyperopia in India and around the world is less than that for myopia.

Astigmatism

A common form or refractive error, astigmatism prevents the eye from focusing light in a particular axis on the retina. It occurs when light bends differently from normal as it goes through the eyeball because of the oval shape of the cornea. Children and adults may experience astigmatism, often without noticing it. Signs of the problem include squinting and eyestrain, blurry vision at any distance, headaches and difficulty in night driving. The occurrence of astigmatism is so common that you may have some form of it that has existed since birth. It tends to follow hereditary lines, and it may accompany myopia, hyperopia or both types of refractive errors.

LASIK

Lasik surgery provides a path to clear vision. You can achieve freedom from glasses, contact lenses and endless prescriptions with a procedure that permanently improves your vision.Lasik is laser assisted reshaping of the cornea to correct refractive errors, and provide you freedom from spectacles and glasses. There are different kind of procedures, blade assisted and bladeless LASIK.

Blade Lasik Procedures
In Blade procedures, a special blade called microkeratome is used to make the corneal flap and then Excimer Laser is used to correct the spectacle power. Modern microkeratomes are able to create flap almost similar to the ones created by Femto Lasers.
There are 2 types of Blade Lasik Procedures
1. Standard LASIK
2. Customised LASIK

C-Lasik Aspheric

This Laser treatment pattern involves customized Lasik. The optical aberrations of the eye are picked up by an aberrometer and are reduced by the Laser along with spectacle power treatment. Aspheric treatment gives better contrast. Some centres use the normal version of the keratome which picks up a flap of 160 microns. A flap once picked up, is replaced back after laser correction of the underlying corneal tissue.

Standard Lasik

This is the C-lasik as described above, but without the Aspheric component. This is good enough to correct the refractive error but does not give the advantage of improved contrast. The element of halo's and glare is more in this version while the cost is the lowest.

Blade-Less Lasik (Femto Lasik, i Lasik, Intralase Lasik)

In the Blade-Less technique, there are no blades working on the eye. The whole procedure is done by the use of one or combination of two lasers; Femto Laser and Excimer Laser. The precision of Femto Laser is to the levels of 5 microns. Which means that if a human hair is 60 microns, a Femto laser can cut 6 layers in that hair, which is impossible with a blade. Therefore, Bladeless technique gives greater precision, better quality of vision and more safety.

Bladeless Lasik uses Femtosecond Laser, which is used to create an ultra thin flap in cornea, second is Excimer Laser which is used to reshape the cornea to induce correction. The flap is then positioned back which sticks to its place immediately. No blades are used at any time in the whole procedure. Bladeless Lasik has been approved by US-FDA in 2001.

Advantages of Bladeless Lasik

• No fear of blades working on eye
• Precise cutting resulting in better visual outcomes and faster recovery
• Ultra thin and better quality flap Safer than Blade Lasik
• More customized treatment for patients
• Tissue Saving
• Faster Recovery

At Gandhi Eye Centre we offer entire spectrum of refractive surgeries including BLADELESS LASIK with best lasiksurgerons in Gurgaon/gurugram.

Is LASIK safe?

LASIK is a very safe procedures. These procedures are also US -FDA approved, which means they have been given safety clearance for Human Eyes. However, like any other surgical procedure it can have some complications which are extremely rare if a proper screening check is done prior to the procedure. Some patients might experience mild dryness in eyes which usually relieved by lubricating drops and disappears over time. Some may also experience temporary halos during night time which also reduces with time. Immediately after Lasik one might experience mild heaviness and blurring of vision. These are due to the effects of numbing eye drops used during procedure. All these are very very rare and can be easily managed by your doctor. Nobody in our surgical experience has ever lost sight due to this procedure.

Who can have LASIK?

To be a suitable candidate for Laser Vision Correction Surgery, you should be:

• At least 18 years old
• Your specs number should be stable for about a year minor changes do not disqualify you
• Your cornea should be of adequate thickness as seen by corneal scanning or ultrasound
• Ladies should not be pregnant or breast feeding
• You should not have eye diseases like keratoconus or dry eye syndrome
• Controlled diabetes is not a contraindication

Whats the LASIK procedure involves?
DAY 1 PRE OPERATIVE CHECK UP (LASIK SCREENING)
LASIK is not right for everyone. To access your suitability for Lasik, a detailed evaluation has to be done. This is known as 'LASIK Screening'. It involves a series of investigative procedures such as pachymetry, refraction, topography, dry eye testing, cornea scanning, retina screening and doctor consultation. These procedures take around 2 hours. if you are using contact lenses, it is best to remove them three days before the procedure.

DAY 2 LASIK PROCEDURE
This procedure is done under local numbing eye drops only. No injections are used. The LASIK treatment time usually takes around 20 seconds per eye, and the whole procedure takes around 10 minutes per eye. You may leave the hospital 15 minutes after the LASIK procedure.

DAY 3 FOLLOWUP
A follow-up is done next to evaluate results.
You can book an appointment, at Gandhi Eye Centre, with Gurgaons best LASIK Surgeon to know is LASIK is suitable for you or not.

What if I'm found unfit for LASIK?
98% people are usually found fit for Lasik. If, however you are not suitable for Lasik, your doctor may suggest you alternative procedures for vision correction such as ICL, Advanced Surface Ablation etc.

How long does LASIK take?
The laser treatment itself usually takes around one minute. The whole procedure takes about 10 minutes for one eye.

What does the postLASIK care include

• Do not touch your eyes with fingers. Mop tears with soft tissue paper. Do not use handkerchief
• Keep your eyes closed as much as possible after laser treatment on the laser day.
• Eye drops to be started on the laser day. Pull lower lid and place one or two drops on the eye in the gap between the lid and the eyeball
• Wear dark glasses continuously throughout the day for the first 3 days. On the first three nights, use protective eye shields provided to you by the Lasik centre. From 4th day onwards, use dark glasses only when outdoors up to 15th day. The purpose of dark glasses is to prevent your hands from rubbing the eyes. It also serves as a small protection against dust. Exposure to sunlight or room light is not harmful to the eyes.
• Stay in clean environment- Avoid kitchen and smoke for 1 week.
• Mobile phones may be used from the next day
• Computer use, watching TV, reading etc. can be started from the 2nd day in moderation. There may be strain on eyes initially which is normal.
• Take a bath neck down for 1 week. During this period, clean your eyelids lightly with boiled cotton once in the morning to remove deposits from the lid margin, taking care not to touch the black portion (cornea) of the eye. Wipe face lightly with a clean towel without rubbing your eyes.
• From 2nd week onwards, take a normal bath from head downwards with your eyes closed as a precaution. A little water entering your eyes now is a very low risk.
• After 2 weeks, you can return to normal bathing
• Light activities can be done the very next day. Do not do heavy exercises for 7 days. Sports activities can be done after 1 month.
• You can have your normal food after laser treatment.
• Avoid car driving for 2 days, and driving a bike for 2 weeks.
• Do not splash water into eyes for 2 weeks. Splashing water into the eyes as a habit is best avoided as it washes away all the natural oils of the eye, inducing dry eyes. Splashing to wash away some dust particle is acceptable
• Smoking and drinking to be avoided for two weeks.
• Do not use any eye make up for 2weeks. Threading of eyebrows may be done after 2 weeks taking care to avoid too much pressure on the eye.
• Facial massage should be avoided on the eye area for 3 months.
• Avoid vigorously rubbing your eyes for 3 months.
• Avoid swimming, water diving for 3 months.
• Cosmetic contact lenses can be used after 3 months.

Can one have cataract surgery after LASIK?

When you plan to undergo a cataract surgery later in life, one should inform the doctor about any previous procedures so that the treatment plan can be modified accordingly.

Care after LASIK

Once the postoperative follow-up and medications are over one can resume all normal activities like:

• You can wear eye make up after LASIK
• You can wear contact lens after LASIK
• You can swim after LASIK

When can one resume work after LASIK?

After the procedure majority of the people can return to work after 2-3 days. Most of the routine work can be done after 7 days. Jobs that are more physically demanding and involve exposure to liquids or dust might require a more graduated return to full activities, but are best discussed with your surgeon.