LASIK Surgery

Astounding developments in both medical technology and in our understanding of eye care have made LASIK surgery one of the more widely hailed advances in the treatment of vision problems to surface in the past 100 years.

First described by Japanese doctors in the 1940s, the principles of radial keratotomy were initially tested rigorously in the USSR in the 1960s before attracting the attention of US ophthalmologists in the 1970s. In the most general sense, radial keratotomy involves reshaping the eye to adjust for refractive imbalances that cause vision problems such as Myopia (Nearsightedness), Hyperopia (Farsightedness), Presbyopia (Bifocals), and Astigmatism.

The earliest efforts to treat these conditions relied on making radial incisions on the surface of the cornea using surgical steel blades to change its shape and correct refractive defects. Although early radial keratotomy was not a perfect procedure it reliably decreased patients' dependence on eyeglasses. Improvements in surgical technology, including the use of ultrathin diamond micrometer cutting blades, microscopic guidance systems and computer databases for results tracking, helped radial keratotomy become increasingly popular well into in the 1990s, but the biggest impact on the success of this procedure has probably been the development of the Excimer laser, which underlies the LASIK name - Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis.

The Excimer laser was developed initially for use in the making of computer chips. This revolutionary device is a specific type of "cool" laser that generates power from light in the ultraviolet range, which cannot be visualized by the human eye. Because the laser generates no heat, no tissue damage results in the use of its laser light. The laser is trained on miniscule amounts of corneal tissue, removing and reshaping it at a microscopic level. Layers of tissue approximately 1/10th the width of a human hair are removed and the laser is programmed to affect precisely the amount of tissue needed to achieve the desired result.

Today LASIK is by far the most widely practiced refractive vision correction procedure worldwide and helps millions of people to see through new eyes annually.