Lasik | What To Expect During Lasik Surgery
The Lasik surgery should take less than 30 minutes. You will lie on your back in a reclining chair in an exam room containing
the laser system. The laser system includes a large machine with a microscope attached to it and a computer screen. Click Here to watch a animation movie of the Lasik procedure.
A numbing drop will be placed in your eye, the area around your eye will be cleaned, and an instrument called a lid speculum will be used to
hold your eyelids open.
Using Mechanical Microkeratome
Your doctor may use a mechanical microkeratome (a blade device) to cut a flap in the cornea.
If a mechanical microkeratome is used, a ring will be placed on your eye and very high pressures will be applied to create suction to the
cornea. Your vision will dim while the suction ring is on and you may feel the pressure and experience some discomfort during this part of the
procedure. The microkeratome, a cutting instrument, is attached to the suction ring. Your doctor will use the blade of the microkeratome to cut a
flap in your cornea. Microkeratome blades are meant to be used only once and then thrown out. The microkeratome and the suction ring are then
removed.
Your doctor may use a laser keratome (a laser device), instead of a mechanical microkeratome, to cut a flap on the cornea.
Using Laser Keratome
If a laser keratome is used, the cornea is flattened with a clear plastic plate.
Your vision will dim and you may feel the pressure and experience some discomfort during this part of the procedure. Laser energy is focused
inside the cornea tissue, creating thousands of small bubbles of gas and water that expand and connect to separate the tissue underneath the
cornea surface, creating a flap. The plate is then removed.
You will be able to see, but you will experience fluctuating degrees of blurred vision during the rest of the procedure. The doctor will then
lift the flap and fold it back on its hinge, and dry the exposed tissue.
The laser will be positioned over your eye and you will be asked to stare at a light. This is not the laser used to remove tissue from the
cornea. This light is to help you keep your eye fixed on one spot once the laser comes on.
NOTE: If you cannot stare at a fixed object for at least 60 seconds, you may not be a good candidate for this surgery.
The Start Of Lasik Surgery
When your eye is in the correct position, your doctor will start the laser. At this point in the surgery, you may become aware of new sounds
and smells. The pulse of the laser makes a ticking sound. As the laser removes corneal tissue, some people have reported a smell similar to
burning hair. A computer controls the amount of laser energy delivered to your eye. Before the start of surgery, your doctor will have programmed
the computer to vaporize a particular amount of tissue based on the measurements taken at your initial evaluation. After the pulses of laser
energy vaporize the corneal tissue, the flap is put back into position.
A shield should be placed over your eye at the end of the procedure as protection, since no stitches are used to hold the flap in place. It is
important for you to wear this shield to prevent you from rubbing your eye and putting pressure on your eye while you sleep, and to protect your
eye from accidentally being hit or poked until the flap has healed.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health
 
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"Your artcles in Lasik, especially 'What To Expect Before, During and After Lasik Surgery' is very
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