Search Medical Library

LASIK / Ophthalmology Stories

Today's Featured Doctor

Pregnancy and LASIK Don't Mix

When a woman is pregnant or breastfeeding, her hormonal balance shifts dramatically. This causes her body to retain more fluid. And when this happens, her eyes' lenses swell, too, making a correct diagnosis to fix her vision problems with LASIK surgery all but impossible.

When the lens swells, it changes how a woman sees, making her more nearsighted, farsighted or astigmatic. But when her pregnancy is over, and when she stops lactating, her hormones - and her eyes' lenses - return to normal. If a LASIK diagnosis is performed on a woman during the period when her lenses are distorted, the readings will be invalid for her normal bodily state.

Read more about Pregnancy and LASIK Don't Mix

Avoiding Lasik Surgery Night-Vision Problems

All too often, problems with a patient's night vision have resulted following laser eye surgery - problems such as night glare, haloes and rings.

But these problems can be minimized, or even eliminated, by proper patient screening, skilled surgical manipulation and the proper, most up-to-date excimer laser technology.

Read more about Avoiding Lasik Surgery Night-Vision Problems

Lasik Helps U.S. Retain Pilots, Astronauts

The natural human aging process is in a constant war with the U.S. military and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Aging has always degraded the vision of Air Force pilots, Navy divers and NASA astronauts - and this has made it difficult for the respective services to retain them.

The government has always feared that eyeglasses and contact lenses could be broken or dislodged in the course of the service members' often grueling work, threatening life, limb and government property in the process. Even with the advent of Lasik surgery, the fear didn't subside.

Read more about Lasik Helps U.S. Retain Pilots, Astronauts

Choosing Between Traditional and Custom Lasik

Lasik eyesight-correction surgery, a phenomenal breakthrough when it was first approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in 1995, has recently been trumped big-time by the innovation known as wavefront Lasik technology, which is some 25 times more precise than its older cousin.

The consumer still has both choices available today - the traditional versus the new custom technique - but there is an enormous difference in technology.

Read more about Choosing Between Traditional and Custom Lasik

Lasik Innovation Produces Improved Results

In a recent study, a procedure called wavefront-guided Lasik surgery has produced better results in the area of night vision than conventional Lasik surgery.

"Average night-driving performance was reduced after conventional Lasik and improved after wavefront-guided," said Steven C. Schallhorn, at a Berlin meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. "There was a significant loss in a fair number of eyes with conventional and a low percentage with wavefront-guided."

Read more about Lasik Innovation Produces Improved Results

Study of Myopic Patients Reveals Benefits of LASIK

Myopia, or near-sightedness, affects approximately 25% of Americans between the ages of 12 and 54. Though glasses are the common quick fix to myopia, laser eye surgery has become more commonly used to correct vision problems since being introduced in the early 1990's. Though over 18 million LASIK procedures have been performed worldwide, some controversy still remains regarding the maximum possible correction and efficacy using this technique. An article published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Opthalmology has reported that LASIK for myopia is an effective procedure in the long-term.

Read more about Study of Myopic Patients Reveals Benefits of LASIK

La Fuerza Aérea permite a los pilotos volar con una cirugía Lasik

Por primera vez la fuerza aérea Estadounidense está permitiendo volar a los aspirantes a pilotos y a los miembros de la tripulación aérea, aún si se han sometido a una cirugía ocular Lasik.

Desde el 2001, la fuerza aérea ha permitido a los candidatos a pilotos o miembros de tripulación de que experimenten en determinados sitios, si es que han tenido una cirugía ocular correctiva conocida como PRK (Photo Refractive keratectomy/ Queratotomía fotorefractiva).
La fuerza aérea ha dicho que necesitaba más tiempo para evaluar la cirugía LASIK, que es un procedimiento mucho más nuevo.

Al igual que el PRK, la cirugía LASIK es realizada con un láser para cambiar la forma de la córnea, la cobertura clara del ojo. Sin embargo, en un procedimiento LASIK, los cirujanos utilizan un bisturí para cortar un gajo en la córnea a diferencia del procedimiento PRK.
Los cirujanos de la fuerza aérea estaban preocupados por el hecho de pensar de cómo este colgajo del LASIK se mantendría con los pilotos y miembros de la tripulación volando en ambientes de gran altitud y bajo oxígeno, especialmente en una evacuación de emergencia. Los estudios ahora muestran que existe muy poco o prácticamente ningún efecto cuando los ojos tratados con LASIK pasan a través de una ráfaga de viento después de una expulsión de la aeronave o cuando son expuestos a una gran altitud.
Con la prolongada guerra en Irak y la expansión del servicio militar, la ampliación de los requisitos para el vuelo llega en muy buen momento.

Read more about La Fuerza Aérea permite a los pilotos volar con una cirugía Lasik

Smoking Can Increase Risk of Age Related Macular Degeneration

Smoking may increase your chances of developing macular degeneration as you age-one of the main causes of severe vision loss in the elderly. The University of Sydney has performed a study thatt finds strong evidence of a link between smoking and this chronic disease.

The researchers followed nearly 2,500 Australians who were at least age 49 for a 10 year period. Of these participants, over 50% were lifelong smokers, 35% were former smokers, and 13% were current smokers. Each study participant was questioned about past and current smoking as well as their diet. Researchers took retinal photos and recorded weight and blood pressure measurements. On average, smokers devleoped AMD when they were 69 years old - five years younger than average for nonsmokers.

Read more about Smoking Can Increase Risk of Age Related Macular Degeneration

Air Force Allows Pilots With Lasik to Fly

For the first time, the US Air Force is allowing aspiring pilots and aircrew members to fly even if they have had LASIK eye surgery.

Since 2001, the Air Force has permitted applicants to try for spots as pilots or aircrew members if they have had a corrective eye surgery, known as PRK (photo refractive keratectomy). The Air Force had said it needed more time to evaluate LASIK, a newer procedure.

Read more about Air Force Allows Pilots With Lasik to Fly

New Excimer Laser

New Excimer Laser
Breakthrough Excimer Laser technology is leading to unprecedented results in the field of eye correction.

Read more about New Excimer Laser