Type of Laser Eye Surgery

The laser eye surgery has revolutionized the eye surgery for correction of refractive errors of the eye. It has enabled the ophthalmic surgeon to perform eye surgeries without pain and with excellent precision. The following are the types of Laser eye surgeries that are available at present:

1. LASEK or Laser Assisted Sub-Epithelial Keratomileusis is a type of advanced Photorefractive Keratectomy or PRK. In LASEK alcohol is used for softening and removing the epithelium of cornea, which is replaced after reshaping the stroma of cornea with laser for correct vision. In LASEK there is no need to create corneal flap with cutting blade and healing and recovery after surgery is also faster.
2. Epi-LASEK is modified LASEK, where living epithelial layer of cornea is preserved using a technique called “separator”, which is replaced after stroma of cornea is reshaped using laser. Advantage of Epi-LASEK over LASEK is that it causes faster healing and also reduces discomfort to the patient while undergoing surgery.
3. LASIK or Laser Assisted in situ Keratomileusis is a type of eye surgery for correction of refractive errors of eye like myopia (short sightedness), astigmatism and hypermetropia. Lasik surgery is done by eye surgeons using laser. In LASIK a corneal flap is made using microkeratome metal blade and stroma of cornea is reshaped with laser for correct vision. After reshaping the stroma, the corneal flap is replaced. The advantage of Lasik are, painless surgery and vision is corrected immediately after surgery, although there may be some blurring of vision initially for 24 hours.
4. Conventional IntraLasik do not use metal blade to produce corneal flap, but uses “femtosecond Intralase laser”. Use of femtosecond Intralase laser makes it easier to create thinner corneal flaps and also makes the flaps better than metal blades. To make the corneal flaps perfect “wavefront technology” should be used. The only disadvantage of Conventional IntraLasik is the higher cost and longer duration it takes to produce corneal flap (minutes it stead of seconds in case of metal blades).
5. Custom Vue Lasik uses “wavefront technology” to guide the laser for creating corneal flap. The “wavefront technology” also maps the cornea. Custom Vue Lasik can give perfect vision (in this all the imperfections of conventional Lasik are removed) and is supposed to give as good as 20/20 vision or even better in some cases.
6. Custom Vue IntraLasik is combination of best things of Lasik and Custom Vue Lasik. It uses the “wavefront technology” software to guide the laser to guide in corneal flap creation. Here all the technical disadvantages of other types of Laser assisted eye surgeries are corrected to produce the perfect eye surgery. The only so called disadvantage is the higher cost of the surgery.