LASIK & Your Astigmatism

Many people hear that they have astigmatism and it means almost nothing to them except the fact that they cannot see well. Astigmatism is a little harder to correct than just simple nearsightedness or farsightedness. Glasses and contacts may help, but only while you are wearing them.

What is Astigmatism?

Your eyeball is a round sphere. When you are looking at something, your eye detects the light reflected off of the object. This light enters your eye through the cornea, where it is then refracted onto the retina. The retina then sends images to your brain.

If your cornea is not a perfect circle shape, it can distort the light and make it so the light does not reach the retina accurately.

For someone who has astigmatism, their cornea is slight oblong, or shaped more like a football. This results in the person seeing images as extremely blurry.

Can LASIK correct astigmatism?

Many optometrists, or eye doctors, tell their patients that LASIK cannot correct astigmatism. This is untrue.

LASIK CAN correct astigmatism.

However, in order to be 100% sure that LASIK can correct your personal degree of astigmatism, you must have a LASIK exam. It’s the only true way to find out if LASIK can help.

How LASIK Corrects Astigmatism

An ophthalmologist, or eye surgeon, can correct astigmatism with a LASIK laser. The laser will reshape the cornea into a round shape, thus allowing light to accurately refract directly on the retina.

Our LASIK patients are amazed that as soon as the surgery is over, they can see more clearly than they ever have before. The correction with LASIK is fast and permanent. You’ll be able to see clearly right away.

We encourage everyone to participate in our Free LASIK Consultation. Without any obligations, you can find out if you are a candidate, regardless of your degree of astigmatism, and then you can decide if you would like to further pursue the question of “Should you have LASIK?”

Schedule online today!

Super Human Vision

Superhero powers are only a thing of comic books. No one person has super powers.

Or do they?

Scientists have begun to uncover an ability found in only about 12% of women – the ability to see more colors in the color spectrum than originally thought possible. While studies are still being performed to test this new vision ability, the thought that our world holds more color than most can see is quite intriguing.

The eyes are a very powerful thing.

To read the full article, click here.

Eye Strain Issues?

If you work in front of a computer, you have probably experienced eye strain. Here is a great video with a few tips to help keep your eyes in top performance!

Common Consultation Questions – Part 3

For the past couple of weeks, we have addressed some of the most common questions asked by different patients about LASIK. Here are a few more.

How old do you have to be to have your vision corrected, either by LASIK or another laser vision correction procedure?

The rule of thumb on this question is 18. Your eyes are like any other organ in your body. They grow and develop as you age. The most important thing is for your eyesight to be stable prior to having LASIK. If a LASIK surgeon corrects your cornea and your vision hasn’t stabilized, they run the risk of under- or over-correction. You wouldn’t be happy with your results and most experienced LASIK surgeons won’t take that chance.

Isn’t it just safer to wear my glasses/contact lenses?

The truth to this question may come as a surprise. While contacts or glasses may be a viable option for many patients, the longer you wear them, the more likely you are to experience complications.

Complications of glasses or contacts include contracting bacterial infections, dry eyes from long exposure, or even trauma caused from an accident. Some patients may wear contacts or glasses for decades and never experience an issue. However, keep your contacts in your eyes for too long (or sleep in them) and you can instantly understand the issues these devices can cause.

This isn’t to say that LASIK isn’t without its risks as well. You can experience dry eye after LASIK. While the majority of patients overcome this side-effect quickly, some patients may need prescription eye drops to solve it.

The true question is not one of safety, but rather what you are willing to do to see clearly. LASIK can provide clear eyesight for many years to come, without the continual expense of lenses, solutions, etc.

We’d love the opportunity to discuss the possibility of life without lenses with you. Please feel free to call our office with anymore questions, check out our website, or schedule a Free LASIK Consultation.

Common Consultation Questions – Part 2

Last week we addressed some of the most common questions asked by different patients about LASIK. Here are a few more.

Can I have LASIK while I am pregnant?

The answer to this question is no. When you are pregnant, your body goes through many changes. One of these changes can be your eyesight. These changes can throw off our exam results. We pride ourselves on superior results for our patients; therefore, we will not perform laser vision correction on any woman who is pregnant. After birth, we may ask a patient to wait from six months to a year for their vision to stabilize again before correcting their vision.

There are people, even famous people, speaking out against having LASIK because they had a not-so-great experience. Why?

There is always something important to be learned from others’ mistakes. This is one. LASIK is not for everyone. Even so, some surgeons will perform LASIK on anyone who wishes to have the procedure. This is a BAD IDEA.

If you perform LASIK on patients who are not optimal candidates, their sight may be negatively affected with the outcome. At Davis Eye Center, we won’t take this risk. We will first ensure you are a candidate. If you are not, we will explain why and also let you know if there is anything we can do (i.e. another procedure) to help you see clearly.

This practice of performing LASIK on everyone who walks in the door is more common in a corporate-owned LASIK practice. Corporate practices are more concerned with their income, thus they’ll opt to do as many LASIK procedures as possible.

We will continue this discussion next week. If you are seeking answers immediately, please feel free to call our office, check out our website, or schedule a Free LASIK Consultation.

Common Consultation Questions

The purpose of the free LASIK consultation that we offer is three-fold:

1. To ensure you are even a candidate for the procedure
2. To answer all of your questions and make sure you have all the information you need to make an informed decision
3. If you are not a candidate, we will also take the time to educate you on some of the other options to correct your vision

Often people come into our offices rather reluctantly, afraid of being sold on something they aren’t quite sure they even want. It’s more often that people won’t even come near our offices until they are absolutely SURE they are even considering having LASIK.

We offer a free consultation to anyone willing to consider vision correction because we believe that education is the key to making an informed decision. We don’t wish to “sell” any patient on a procedure that they may not want. We don’t like the stereotypical “car salesman” approach, and we know you don’t either. That’s why we train our staff to be patient, answer any and all questions, and we don’t pay them a commission to book surgeries. 

During the consultation, we often hear some of the same questions asked by different patients about LASIK. We’d like to take a moment to address a few of them.

My [optometrist/doctor/friend/family member] told me that LASIK won’t correct Astigmatism. Is this true?

No, this is not true. LASIK can actually correct astigmatism. While not every patient suffering from astigmatism is a candidate for LASIK, it does not mean that everyone with this refractive error cannot have their vision corrected. The only way to know for sure if LASIK will correct your astigmatism is to have a full evaluation by an ophthalmologist. We perform these exams during our free consultation and we will describe exactly how we can correct your astigmatism to help you see clearly.

Note: LASIK can also correct nearsightedness and farsightedness.

If I have LASIK this young (20s or 30s), will I have to have it again as I get older?

No. LASIK is a one-time correction of the cornea in your eye. This correction helps to fix the way light refracts onto your retina and transmits signals to the brain. Once corrected, your cornea will remain that shape, unless you contract an eye disease that may affect the cornea. LASIK will not give you any such disease.

It may be necessary to do what is called a LASIK enhancement. This is where the ophthalmologist may need to finish the correction of the cornea. However, if you seek out a board-certified, expert ophthalmologist, they will have an enhancement rate of less than 8% of their patients. 

My refractive error (nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism) is very severe. Does this mean I will have to have LASIK a few times to get the accurate correction?

This is usually not the case if you visit an expert ophthalmologist who has performed thousands of operations. During the consultation and pre-op appointments, your ophthalmologist will plan a thorough and complete treatment plan for your eyes. This treatment plan is very precise and should not require additional surgeries. 

Every pair of eyes is unique. There may be the need for enhancements, but again, with a qualified and experienced surgeon, they will have a very low rate of enhancements needed to get a patient seeing clearly.

We will continue this discussion next week. If you are seeking answers immediately, please feel free to call our offices, check out our website, or schedule a Free LASIK Consultation.

A Little Friday Afternoon Humor