Seeing the World with New “Eyes”: LASIK Surgery

For people who wear glasses or contacts, the first thing they do in the morning is to look for whatever eye wear they need in order to see the world. Playing sports, doing chores, and other physical activities are also harder because eyeglasses can fog up or slip when you sweat, take a tumble, or leap. Contact lenses are itchy and hard to put on, plus they're very pricey! So if you're tired of all these inconveniences, then maybe you should consider LASIK surgery.

LASIK surgery is fast and painless. It may be expensive at first, but you save money in the long run since it's meant to be a permanent solution. With LASIK, you wouldn't need to buy new pairs of eyeglasses or contact lenses anymore. Anesthesia is applied to numb the eyes before surgery so you need not worry about the pain. After ten to thirty minutes of painless surgery where you are fully conscious, you'll be seeing the world quite clearer than you ever did.

The procedure may seem daunting because it involves cutting through and reshaping your cornea, but it does help you see better. If you're thinking about getting LASIK done, then find a reputable eye doctor who will perform the surgery. It's no small thing, indeed, to see the world crystal clear, or to wake up and finally be able to see your own toes when you sit up.

When You Can Hardly See, All the More You'll Need to Look For the Right Kind of Eye Doctor

If a fastball accidentally hits your eye, what kind of eye doctor will you go to, an ophthalmologist or an optometrist? If you answered the latter, then you are in big trouble, like striking out with bases loaded in the ninth inning. Although those two share similar functions and responsibilities, they differ in responsibilities. Ophthalmologists specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases and injuries, while optometrists examine eyes for defects, problems, and impairments, and prescribe corrective lenses and other kinds of treatments.

Ophthalmologists are physicians that offer complete eye care services, such as eye exams, eye care for conditions like chemical burns, iritis, and glaucoma. They also perform surgery for cataracts, trauma, crossed eyes, glaucoma, and other problems. Ocular complications from diseases, such as diabetes and arthritis, can be diagnosed and treated. They are also licensed to do plastic surgery for smoothing out wrinkles and drooping eyelids.

Meanwhile, optometrists, as Doctors of Optometry, offer eye exams and prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses. They also have the skills to diagnose conditions, such as cataracts, macular degeneration, and conjunctivitis, and participate in operative care for surgical patients. In effect, ophthalmologists and optometrists aren't competing with each other. In fact, they work hand in hand to take care of their eye patients. 

Caring for Your Vision: Different Types of Eye Professionals You Should Know About

When you say “I should see an eye doctor”, a wise guy might retort “So, is it an ophthalmologist, optometrist, or optician that you need?”. The professional you need will depend on your vision problem or needs. To help yourself to the right eye specialist, as well as deal with smart alecks, here are some information to straighten things out.

Ophthalmologists

Take note that ophthalmologists are physicians, which means they went to medical school. They provide total eye care from vision assessments to surgical treatments. They may also have specialties such as pediatric ophthalmology and reconstructive eye surgery.

Optometrists

Optometrists are medical professionals, but are not physicians in the UK and some other countries, but are doctors of Optometry in Canada and the US. They finished a degree in Optometry and serve as primary health care providers. If all you require is an eye exam or new eyeglasses, you can drop by an optometrist's office. Ophthalmologists and optometrists can work together to care for patients.

Optician

An optician is mainly in charge of adjusting, repairing, and checking eye products like eyeglasses and contact lenses. They usually finish a 2-year associate degree or receive formal training from accredited institutions. Opticians fill the prescription of your ophthalmologist or optometrist for certain eye wear or lenses.

Choosing the right eye professional matters. Each has a task and specific role in rendering eye care. Therefore, rather than simply looking for an “eye doctor”, think whether it's an ophthalmologist, optometrist, or optician you need.

LASIK Eye Surgery: Basic Info about the Procedure

For a person to see clearly, the cornea and the lens must refract (or bend, in simpler terms) light rays so they focus on the retina, the layer of light-sensing cells that occupy the back portion of the eye. The retina is what converts the light rays into impulses that are sent to the brain, where they are identified as images. If the cornea and lens don't focus light into the retina properly, the image you see will be blurry. This inability of the cornea and the lens to do their job is called refractive error.

Refractive errors are usually caused by an imperfectly shaped cornea, lens, or eyeball. Examples of refractive errors are myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism. For these eye conditions, LASIK eye surgery offers a viable solution.

LASIK is short for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis. In a LASIK procedure, a low-powered laser is used to reshape a patient's cornea to improve the way the eye focuses light rays into the retina. Only ophthalmologists can perform this type of eye procedure. Ask your medical doctor for a referral to a licensed ophthalmologist who performs LASIK.

LASIK is an outpatient procedure, which means you can go home directly after the ophthalmologist performs the procedure on you. Healing is relatively fast, but you may want to take a couple of weeks from work after the surgery to allow your eyes to heal properly.

Why You Should Get Lasik Surgery: Things to Keep in Mind

How many times have you woken up to find that you've crushed your glasses or, worse, slept with your contact lens on because you were dead tired the previous night? Then it's time to get rid of those annoying contraptions and muster up some courage to undergo Lasik surgery.

Lasik is a shortened name for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, a procedure that treats common eye problems like myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. The procedure basically reshapes the cornea and on average only takes around 15 minutes to perform. Here are some reasons why Lasik surgery is a good idea:

No more glasses or contact lenses

After the surgery, you may never need to wear glasses or contact lenses again. You don't even have to keep spending for new lenses every six months or so. If done correctly, Lasik may be all you'll need to see clearly for a long time.

No more constant headaches

Eye muscle imbalance and refractive errors may be symptoms of underlying conditions such as myopia or astigmatism. Lasik corrects these underlying causes and thereby helps relieve eye strain that can lead to headaches. With Lasik, you'll never have to wake up to another eye-related headache ever again.

Get your old self back

Your looks change whenever you wear glasses. You'll either look fashionably nerdy or just plain grumpy with glasses on. With effective lasik surgery, you may soon ditch cumbersome corrective glasses or even contact lenses entirely.

Sight for Sore Eyes: Treatments for Vision Loss

Sight is perhaps the most important of the five human senses given that it allows you to perceive and respond to the world around you. The loss of sight can thus render you clueless about your immediate environment and, worse, at risk of fatal accidents. Blindness can be congenital, although most people lose their ability to see due to various health complications.

Conditions such as diabetic retinopathy (damage to light-sensitive inner surface of the eyes), cataracts, and glaucoma initially manifest as blurred vision. These conditions, however, gradually decrease visual clarity until the eyes can barely see anything. Fortunately, those afflicted by these conditions can undergo corrective procedures that can restore optimal vision.

In the olden days, eye correction consisted mainly of cumbersome and expensive prescription eyewear. These days, minimally invasive procedures like laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis or LASIK surgery enable safe and accurate visual correction by reshaping the cornea and thereby changing the focal point of the eye. While LASIK can correct conditions such as myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism, it should be noted that patients will need to undergo separate treatments to treat cataracts or glaucoma.

With innovative laser eye surgery, those suffering from blurry vision or the inability to focus on near objects no longer have to put up with severe eyestrain and headaches. You may even find that you no longer need to wear corrective lenses after the procedure.

Seeing is Believing: Treating Eyesight Loss

In a world that relies heavily on visual information, the loss of vision is perhaps one of the most debilitating things that could happen to anyone. The mere hint of blurry eyesight can already be a precursor to complete blindness. Several things can cause blindness, such as diabetes, and it can strike anyone regardless of age.

Diabetic retinopathy is a condition that commonly plagues diabetics, and it's often attributed to hemorrhage in the blood vessels at the back of the eye. Those suffering from this condition initially experience blurred vision until the eyesight eventually gets obscured by the blood that leaks out from the blood vessel. The only way to treat this condition is to stop the bleeding.

Medical procedures that may involve corticosteroid injections are typically performed to arrest the injury and restore vision. Meanwhile, people diagnosed with diabetes must maintain healthy blood glucose levels to prevent or slow down retinopathy as well as to increase the accuracy and safety of any corrective eye surgery. In any case, only diabetics with well-controlled blood sugar levels and minimal diabetic retinopathy may qualify for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis or LASIK eye surgery, a minimally invasive procedure that modifies the refractive power of the cornea to enable clearer eyesight.