Introduction: LASIK Surgery is the abbreviated medical term for “Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis” which is the kind of refractive laser eye surgery methods entirely performed by the qualified ophthalmologists who are educated of rectifying Myopia, Hypermetropia and astigmatism. Due to lesser time and lesser overall pain, the LASIK Surgery is comparatively far better substitute of Photorefractive Keratectomy – PRK. People have been noticed of opting for the LASIK Surgery basically as alternate of wearing corrective glasses of contact lenses. Person gets a sharp vision quality of the image being seen by him.
Technology Related History: In the year 1960, Jose Barraquer of Colombia discovered the very first Microkeratome which was used for cutting the thin flap in the cornea to alter its shape by the method called Keratomileusis. However, during the year 1981, an Indian Rangaswamy Srinivasan declared that the ultra-violet Excimer Laser can easily scrap the living tissues accurately absolutely without damaging the thermal in the surrounding areas, which technique was designated by him as Ablative Photo Decomposition – APD. Srinivasan and his colleagues or co-inventors used the Excimer Laser and the traditional green laser for scraping the organic matter.
Functionally the green laser produced rough slits damaged by burning from the heat, and the Excimer Laser produced neat and clean slits. After a couple of years, during 1983, Rangaswamy Srinivasan joined with an ophthalmic surgeon for developing APD to scrap the cornea. Lucio Buratto of Italy associated with Ioannis Pallikaris of Greece amalgamating two prior techniques of Keratomileusis and Photorefractive Keratectomy and gained rapid popularity due to its superior accuracy and lesser hurdle frequency as compared to the former methods then developed the LASIK Surgery during 1990.
Modus Operandi: There are three basic stages to be looked upon cautiously, Pre-Operative, Operation and Post-Operative. In Pre-Operative state the patients particularly using soft contact lenses are suggested to abandon using them before around 10 days of intended surgery. For ascertaining the accurate shape, the surfaces of the corneas are examined with the Pachymeter, which generates the topographic map of the corneas using low-power lasers. The Operation is performed without administering anesthesia to the patient, means the patient is in the awaken state, complete mobile, however, the anesthetic eye drops and mild tranquilizers like Valium is of course given to the patient.
The LASIK Surgery is performed in two different steps; initially generate the flap of corneal tissue by using the metal blades and then corneal Stroma is re-shaped by using 193mm Excimer Laser technology. In the Post-Operative treatments the patient is recommended the course of antibiotic drugs and anti-inflammatory eye drops for a few days initially. Also the patient is advised wearing the pair of dark goggles for protecting his eyes against bright lights and atmospheric dust.
Safety & Efficacy: The extensive analysis is on for safety and efficacy of the reported statistics. The Medical Defence Union – MDU that is the largest insurer for physicians in the United Kingdom has reported the 166% rise in claims that involves the Laser Eye Surgery, anyway, the MDU stated that the claims were in fact, due to patient’s unrealistic expectations and not faulty surgery. The patients should be fully educated about the probable complications, side effects and final results, by the surgeons.
