Nowadays when people spend much more time in front of the TV, eat unhealthily, do fewer sports, do not rest enough, various vision defects may occur. The most common is nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. One person takes eyeglasses to correct their eyesight, others choose contact lenses, and the third – an eye laser surgery. All these ways have both advantages and disadvantages, but most of the fears and myths that merge from them contain the previous one. The technological progress of a medicine sphere is astonishing us more and more with its capabilities, not using them for a lack of knowledge or unreasonable fears would be quite disappointing. We invite you to get acquainted with these fears of patients that Eye Clinic LIREMA doctors commonly refer to.
1. Surgery may be painful.
People are afraid of what causes pain – whether it is physical or emotional. The good news is that eye laser surgery is completely painless. Preparing for it, anesthetic eye drops eliminate any possibility of feeling pain during surgery. Usually, patients see and feel very well right after surgery. Discomfort may only be caused by drier eyes, tearing or blurred vision in the next few days or weeks, depending on the type of chosen eye surgery method. To relieve discomfort eye drops or artificial tears are given that dampen senses mentioned before. Right after a month vast majority of patients forget eye drops and may enjoy perfect vision.
2. Eye laser surgery is not effective.
Some people afraid that positive feedback about laser eye surgery on the internet is only the theories. We rush to deny this myth. Eye laser surgery in the world is started to make in 1987. Since then, lasers and techniques improved and lots of various researches as well as patients’ observations were made. Over 30 years later, there is enough scientific evidence to prove the stunning effect of this surgery. During the procedure, eyelid holders are placed first to prevent the eye from blinking. The laser is a computer – doctors turn it on and off, and it does its work during the surgery. While the laser is in action, you only need to look at the light, and the laser monitors and locates the eye position up to 4000 times per second. If there are micro-motions, the laser evaluates them, and if they are bigger, it immediately switches off, so it can always continue from the point where it exactly stopped. Like this, it is guaranteed that surgery will be made accurately and efficiently.
3. Surgery may fail.
Regarding the American Refractive Surgery Council, who is supporting refractive surgery research, developing technology and techniques, eye laser surgery alone does not cause complications. They develop not as a result of surgeons or a technical laser error, but because of chronic or autoimmune diseases. This kind of surgery is considered to be one of the safest procedures in modern medicine. The only more common side effect of it is dry eyes. The surgery is so safe that many people can make the correction several times – the shortsighted, the farsighted and the astigmatic. Of course, surgery is certainly not for everyone who wants it – doctors always assess whether it is possible for the patients with a current state of health and what standard is the best. During the surgery it may smell strange – the laser breaks down the molecules of collagen that composes most of our eye. There is nothing to worry about – all lasers that perform eye laser surgery emit cold, concentrated light. Such cold light radiation cannot technically injure the eyes.
4. It is expensive.
Nowadays much more people consider health to be their greatest assets, global health care expenditures are expected to grow at an annual rate of 5,4 percent between 2017-2022. However, people still spend most of their money on appearance. For example, in United Kingdom eye laser surgery approximately costs about £1200. Such price may not be available to everyone at once but calculating how much a person with a refractive error invests per year in eyeglass frames, glasses, cleaning supplies, contact lenses, and their liquid, not including time to search for all of these things, is no less. Regardless of the price, glasses and contact lenses have their disadvantages, for example, to wear while doing a sport is very uncomfortable, they may be broken or lost easily. While using contact lenses they require attention to their sterile usage which is complicated traveling in nature. It is important to remember to take them out on time because wearing the lenses too long may make further damage to the eyes. Now, eye laser surgery is available by partial payment, so maybe it is worth investing once and enjoying the rest of your life?
5. Laser eye surgery lasts forever.
It should be emphasized that if not taking care of the eyes after eye laser surgery, a vision may to get worse. If you continue to look at screens without a break, eat unhealthily and don’t get needed vitamin A, do not take sports, your vision may seem to get worse again. Eye laser surgery is not a finite result, which guarantees that you will not suffer from any eye disease in the future. For example, with age begins the natural process of perpetual nearsightedness (presbyopia) – when the elasticity of the lens of the eye decreases and the eye is unable to focus at close range. After a LASEK surgery and after some time, any microscope can confirm that the operation was performed. Your eyes will look like exactly as before surgery – you will see perfectly, but after age 40 or 50 even healthy people need reading glasses.
Do not let that myths created in your imagination may stop you from living a brighter life. It is better to consult with an eye doctor.
To check if the eye laser surgery is for you, you may here: https://lirema.com/online-consultation/