Laser eye surgery is performed to make the tiny corrections on the surface of the patient’s eye (cornea) with the help of extremely precise laser. It is a short procedure that helps reshape the front surface of your eye so that you can see with greater clarity and with more focus. Read more
Laser eye surgery is also known as refractive surgery or vision correction, which can correct short-sightedness, long-sightedness, and astigmatism.
Is There More Than One Type Of Laser Eye Surgery?
Yes, when it comes to types of laser eye surgery that are conducted, then there are three main types. All of them are mentioned below:
LASIK
LASIK or Laser In Situ Keratomileusis is the most common form of laser eye surgery procedure. It is used to correct both long and short-sightedness. However, it may not be the best form of treatment for people who require higher prescriptions.
Surgeons that perform LASIK first cut across the cornea of the patient and subsequently raising a flap of tissue. Then use the excimer laser to reshape the exposed surface and the flap is replaced and the patient is good to go.
ReLEx SMILE
Refractive Lenticule Extraction and Small Incision Lenticule Extraction or ReLEx SMILE is a great alternative to LASEK and LASIK treatment. It is a relatively new minimally invasive ‘key-hole’ laser eye treatment.
In this type of treatment, surgeons make a small hole in the cornea using a state-of-the-art laser rather than creating a flap in the cornea. This laser places a series of pulses in the center of the patient’s cornea which will self-heal. Although this treatment might go out of your budget, but good results have been achieved using this method. This procedure is even suitable for patients with drier eyes, thinner corneas, or contact lens intolerance. So just ReLEx and SMILE.
Surface Laser Treatment
In this type of laser treatment, the surgeon will remove the clear skin covering the cornea that will allow them to reshape the patient’s cornea with a laser. The removed skin will self-heal naturally. Types of surface laser treatment are mentioned below:
PRK
Photorefractive Keratectomy or PRK is a form of eye correction surgery that was widely used in the early 1980s, but since the dawn of LASIK and LASEK, it’s now only used in the correction of low prescriptions. In PRK, with the use of excimer laser, surgeons perform reshaping of the cornea without eliminating a flap of tissue. This is the cheapest form of laser eye surgery.
LASEK
Laser Epithelial Keratomileusis surgery is pretty much like PRK, with the only difference is that instead of removing the surface layer (epithelium) of the cornea, it is retained as a flap. As retaining the flap is considered as a preventive measure.
TransPRK
Transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy or TransPRK is the most advanced version of surface treatments because no contact between the eye and an instrument is required to perform this type of laser eye surgery.