Saturday, December 13, 2008

Differentiate the Myth from the Truth about LASIK Surgery

Let's face it, in the last 10 years we have heard and read a lot about the famous Lasik operations, but still many people out there seem to have a lot of trouble finding the right doctor.

Now that Lasik vision correction surgery has been accepted for a number of years, there are several popular options for the procedure.  One of these is IntraLasik, or Intralase, or bladeless Lasik.  As the name implies, there is no cutting of the eye with a blade involved, instead the flap in the eye is made using a laser.  Since bladeless Lasik is a newer procedure, there are a number of opinions around about how well this procedure works. These opinions warrant the need for a second look, so let's check them one by one.

First, more Lasik clients get 20/20 vision or better using IntraLasik.  Any Lasik procedure cannot guarantee perfect vision for every client, though more than 90% get results to at least 20/40 vision.  However, it is true that the new techniques of IntraLasik do get even better statistics for giving clients clear vision.

Some are concerned that the laser that makes the corneal flap is standard, and cannot be tailored to each individual eye like what a Lasik surgeon can do with a blade.  This is not true. The Lasik physician has control over the use of the laser for each individual in the same way that he can control the microkeratome blade.

IntraLasik can be used for both a standard and a custom Lasik procedure.  This is true.  Custom Lasik procedures using Wavefront technology (another somewhat recent advances in Lasik vision correction) can easily be used with a laser to make the initial flap.  This custom Lasik procedure, though more costly, is of great benefit for people with unusual eye shapes or problems. It is in this moments where you don't really want to go cheap and you want to be sure you are investing the right amount in finding the proper doctors that you need.

Some have heard that using the laser is less accurate than the standard Lasik procedure. This is not true since lasers can be controlled to micron level accuracy.  This gives the Lasik Eye Surgery physician extreme control to create exactly the flap needed for this particular individual eye: the precise size, shape, and depth for successful completion of the Lasik procedure.

Another common fallacy is that IntraLase has not been around long enough for trusted Lasik physicians to have confidence in it.  On the contrary, many of the most honored Lasik physicians strongly endorse IntraLase due to the good track record from the Lasik procedures.  In addition, the quality of the machines and the precision that they give these Lasik physicians is very impressive.  So the question is: which are the best LASIK Doctors out there? Well, this is not an easy question to answer. But in my personal point of view, and please remember that this is 100% subjective, I will recommend LASIK Massachusetts, mainly because they have the top doctors for this procedure in the country.

Many of the top notch Lasik doctors recommend this as a procedure of choice, assuming cost is not a significant variable in the decision of which Lasik procedure to use. That's why the only determinant on whether a patient should undergo LASIK or not is the cost. The procedure is relatively pricey. But, you really need to understand that this is one of the top procedures in the world. So if you want the best, you do need to pitch in some amount.

Similar to the contentions above, some people think that Intralase is not a sufficiently tested Lasik procedure option. On the contrary, more than one million of these procedures have been performed, and the impressive track record for this Lasik procedure has been discussed above.  More and more Lasik physicians are trained in this option, and we will see many more such Lasik procedures in the future.

As a last advice, I can only recommend that you take your time choosing the proper doctor, this is a serious procedure and you should only do it with the medical team you feel comfortable with. Best of luck and thanks for reading.

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