There is a type of eye surgery that may be used in order to improve the eyes refractive state and even remove or decrease the need to wear contact lenses or glasses. This may include different types of surgical treatment of cornea, lens replacement such as they do in cataract surgery and even lens implantation. A common method that is used today will be the use of excimer lasers which are able to reshape cornea curvature. When this type of surgery is successful it is able to cure or reduce some vision disorders like keratoconus, astigmatism, hyperopia and myopia.
There are different techniques that may be used in order to perform refractive surgery. There are flap procedures, surface procedures, and corneal incision procedures. Each type of procedure will have their own type of versions.
Flap Procedure
In these procedures a type of flap is created within the lamellar cornea. This is done using an excimer laser.
ALK is a type of procedure where the surgeon will use a microkeratome in order create a small flap in the tissue of the cornea. It is this flap that will then become similar to a door and the targeted tissue will be taken from the stroma of the eye using a tool called the microkeratome. After this happens, the tissue flap is then put back.
Lasik is another type of flap procedure. The surgeon will use a femtosecond laser or microkeratome in order to make a flap within the cornea tissue. The flap will then be lifted but unlike ALK, the tissue will be taken using the excimer laser from the stroma. Once that is done, the flap is then put back. Whenever, a flap is made it will be done using IntraLase femtosecond lasers. This has been named IntraLasik. However, in some cases the Ziemer laser will be used in order to make a flap. The parts of this procedure have a bit of the upper hand when compared to the traditional versions, but there are not any studies that really prove that this state is considered to be a true statement. However, there is one statement that states that the microkeratome can deposit microscopic metal parts from the blade into the eye during surgery.
ReLex versions are made up of two types. There is Flex and Smile. Flex or Femtosecond Lenticule extraction is where a femtosecond laser is used to cut into the lenticule inside of the stroma. After this a flap is made which is lifted to get to the lenticule and it is removed using forceps and a blunt spatula. Now Smile or Small Incision Lenticle Extraction is a much newer technique that is done without the use of a flap. Femtosecond lasers will cut lenticles inside of the stroma. The same laser will the be used to make a small incision on the periphery which is smaller than the standard flap for Lasik. The surgeon will then use a special instrument to remove the lenticule which leaves the anterior lamellae completely intact and there is no use of a excimer laser for any ReLex surgeries.
Surface Procedures
In a surface procedure the excimer laser will be used to get into the stroma but on the anterior part. It is these procedures that will not need to have anything to be cut within the stroma. However, these types of procedures will be different but only when it comes to how the epithelial layer is taken care of by the surgeon.
PRK is a type of procedure that is done on an outpatient basis and it is normally done with just some anesthetic eye drops. It is a type of procedure that will be done to reshape the cornea by removing tiny amounts of stroma tissue using excimer lasers. However, the main difference happens to be that unlike Lasik the upper layer of the epithelium is cut, and a bandage made of a contact lens will be used, and that means that there will not be a flap made. However, the time that it takes to recover from PRK will be a lot longer than if you had Lasik and the outcome will often show up about 3 months and they are often the same when compared to Lasik. However, there has some been customized procedures done with Prk, Lasik and Lasek.
Lasek is a type of procedure that will be done in order to change the shape of the cornea with the help of a laser in order to remove stroma tissue which is found under the epithelium. This will be kept intact, and it is able to be seen as a type of bandage. A sterile alcohol solution will be used by the surgeon in order to lift epithelium layers with the help of a trephine blade. It is after this procedure that the epithelium will begin to heal which will not leave a flap inside of the cornea. However, the healing after this procedure may cause some discomfort and it is often compared to be the same as the PRK procedure.
C-Ten is a newer innovative strategy that was made for surgery on the cornea which will avoid various types of manipulation by using an assisted computer laser. It is because of this that this procedure is based on the individual’s eye and that means that it will be able to deal with various issues within the cornea from therapeutic to refractive. This is also called ASA or advanced surface ablation.
TransPRK is a type of laser assisted eye surgery that will be used to correct any refraction errors within the cornea. The use of an excimer laser will be used to remove the outer layer of the cornea, stroma, epithelium, and connective tissue in order to correct the power in the eye.
There is a brand-new technique that is called EpiLasik. This procedure is similar to a version of Lasek, but it will use epikeratome lasers to take the upper layer of the epithelium off and that is what will be replaced. For many it is able to provide better results that Lasek as it is able to avoid any negative effects from the alcohol that is used to loosen the tissue and the recovery has less discomfort.
