Laser Eye Surgery

Among the laser eye surgeries, the excimer laser treatment is an ophthalmic treatment that allows the permanent abandonment of the glasses and contact lenses but is also suitable for the correction of higher refractive errors, which cannot be corrected with the glasses or contact lenses.

This type of laser eye surgery changes the surface curvature of the cornea, causing the intersection of light rays on the retina to be at the site which provides the sharp vision. Laser eye surgery is a medical procedure that involves a wide spectrum of surgical techniques.

The particular surgical technique should always be selected based on to the patients’ eye condition and individual need. By utilizing the Wave-Light laser surgery, as opposed to older devices, it takes only about 10 seconds to treat an eye, since the elimination of 1 diopter requires about 2 seconds on average. This device provides not only high precision surgery but also extends the treatable range of diopter limits. This treatment can be performed in the range of 0 and -14.0 D in the case of myopia and 0 and +6.0 D in the case of farsightedness.

Refractive surgery is the restoration of the dioptric defect by different types of surgical procedures. In the 1970s, the ophthalmic implementation of excimer laser technology was further advanced and thus, in 1987, the field of refractive laser surgery opened up a new opportunity in the treatment of vision problems. Since then, there have been several versions of this surgical procedure developed. The PRK (photo refractive keratotomy) method played an introductory role in laser eye surgery. This method was widely adopted in the surgical community, which was further refined by continuously iterating on the technical design. For this reason, since the early 1990s, more and more people choose LASIK (laser in situ keratomileusis) treatment around the world. Today, millions of people enjoy their freedom living without glasses and contact lenses, which of course, provides an improved quality of life that can be attributed to refractive laser surgery.

Laser surgery, which is the basis of laser eye surgery, is an outpatient medical procedure under local anesthesia. Eye treatment is monitored by a number of built-in safety systems. To maximize success, the eye surgery is always preceded by a very thorough ophthalmological examination that considers general illnesses, eye injuries, interventions, medications taken by the patient. After an accurate assessment of visual defects, there are several ways to correct it. By providing a detailed explanation of the surgical pros and cons, and with the full understanding of the suitability test, each patient may decide which option to choose under the guidance of an ophthalmologist. At our clinic, the Pentacam-oculyzer controls the surgical computer – and thus the laser device itself – for all our treatments. With this technological innovation, we can offer more than traditional treatments and provide individualized therapy to the patient.

Excimer laser eye surgery procedures currently distinguish between surface treatments (PRK, LASEK, EPI - LASIK) and subsurface lobe treatments (LASIK and INTRALASIK / FEMTOLASIK). Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages, so each for patient and individualized surgical procedure is selected that is best suited for the eye condition. For each procedure, the laser follows the same surgical method and interrogates the same eye area.

The only difference is in the access and preparation of the area to be treated, which results in slight differences in the process of healing (for example, surface treatments always heal much more slowly). The key difference is that while surface treatments take place in an area filled with pain-sensing nerve fibers, subsurface treatments take place below the nerve fibers (0.1 mm). This is the reason the former hurts, while the subsurface treatments are painless. The concept of laser eye surgery means a broader scope of treatments than diopter correction of visual defects.

When choosing the appropriate laser eye surgery, the problem to be treated will determine the type of laser and the type of treatment. In addition to the diopter-corrective refractive procedure known as laser eye surgery, many other laser procedures are used in our clinic.