Archive for the ‘Eye Care’ Category

Refractive Cataract Surgery

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s lens that can impact vision a little or a lot, depending on its severity. Believed to be just a normal effect of aging, cataracts mostly affect older adults, though a family history or congenital condition may put younger people at risk as well. Your lifestyle often changes drastically if you develop cataracts: you may not be able to read books or watch TV, your driving ability may be impaired to the point that it isn’t safe anymore and you may deal with irritating double vision or light sensitivity. It’s not surprising, then, that many people with cataracts opt for refractive cataract surgery.

About Refractive Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery has been around for quite a while, and some things haven’t changed-like the fact that there’s no way to remove a cataract from the lens without removing the lens itself. So during any surgery for cataracts, the patient’s natural lens will be replaced with a new, clear lens. Refractive cataract surgery, however, is relatively new, and its goal is a bit more aggressive: to eliminate the cataract while also improving patients’ overall vision. The end result is that many people who need glasses and contacts before surgery may be able to toss them afterward, thanks to the new generation of intraocular lenses (IOLs).

Choosing IOLs

There are several versions of IOL available for patients today:

* Crystalens is unique because it attaches directly to the ciliary muscles, allowing the eye muscles to move the lens. These IOLs move naturally with your eyes to give you a clear picture of objects at all distances.
* ReSTOR lenses contain zones in concentric circles that allow the eyes to see images clearly both up close and far away.
* Tecnis, like ReSTOR, has concentric rings for multiple-distance viewing. It is also foldable, allowing the surgeon to insert it through a small incision.

Your surgeon will go over the pros and cons of each IOL and help you decide which is right for your anatomy and lifestyle.

Additional Benefits of Surgery

Removing the cloudiness associated with cataracts is, of course, the primary aim of surgery. But with today’s IOLs, refractive cataract surgery can also help with nearsightedness and farsightedness, as well as these conditions:

* Presbyopia. This is a condition, affecting everyone beginning in middle age, makes it tougher to focus on objects up close. All of the lenses above offer presbyopia treatment.
* Astigmatism. This condition is the main reason people used to need glasses or contacts after surgery. Lenses known as toric IOLs are now available to treat astigmatism during surgery.

During your free LASIK screening our cataract screening, the Houston LASIK doctor all answer any questions you have and cover all risks and benefits in detail.If you have been living with imperfect vision and have been dependent on glasses or contacts for years, LASIK can be each truly remarkable and life changing procedure. Their office not only provides Laser eye surgery but also Lasik eye surgery Houston.

How Lasik Eye Surgery Works?

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

If you want to enhance your vision in order to enable you to see properly without having to use your glasses or eye contacts, then believe me when I tell you that there is a way out. There is a type of surgery referred to as LASIK which can help you to achieve this aim.Photorefractive keratectomy (PFK), Radial keratomy and Lasik vision surgery are all current procedures but the medical experts consider the latter as being the most affordable and fastest one.

After a Lasik vision surgery, 99% of the patients don’t need their glasses anymore while the same percent is used to determine the visual acuity. This type of surgery is a delicate mixture of laser treatment and surgical procedures.

At first the surgeon creates a flap and lifts it to one side so that he can use the laser to reshape the cornea. There are a few risks involved here because the major optical function of the eye is altered by this refractive surgery.

That’s why it’s very important that your surgeon explains you all the risks and complications, the side effects and also the limitations of this procedure.

Lasik vision surgery won’t interfere with your eye’s aging process. If you choose to have this procedure because of occupational vision requirements then there’s a big chance that both you and your boss will be pleased with the results.

In order to be a good candidate for the surgery, the patient must be at least 18 years old and must have a normal corneal structure. Also, before the procedure the lenses are strictly forbidden (3 weeks for soft lenses and 4 weeks for hard ones).

The procedure is not performed on patients that suffer from any condition that can affect the corneal wound healing (immunosuppression, corticosteroid use, etc.) or on patients that have untreated superficial eye disease.

Diagnostic Overview

An improvement over PRK, Laser-assisted In Situ Keratomileusis removes a stromal layer by flattening the curvature of the cornea. Using a microkeratome, the doctor creates a corneal flap and retracts this tissue less than 1/3 of the thickness of a human hair in order to access the corneal stroma and use the excalculated measurements.

Next, he rolls back and repositions the corneal flap.

Lasik surgery provided great results in correcting residual myopia that usually appears after cataract surgery. It is safe (safer than PRK), stable and predictable, it causes less post-op discomfort and involves only a few minor side effects.

Not to mention that after the surgery, the patient has no corneal haze and there’s no need for complicated postoperative care. Even so, you should be aware that any complications are more severe than the ones with PRK because the laser works on a deeper level of the cornea.

After Lasik vision surgery, the DLK must be taken into consideration because this is a non-infectious, peculiar and inflammatory reaction in the lamellar interface.

To be more precise, for a multi-factorial cause in the first week after the surgery may occur a diffuse, white, culture-negative, granular lemellar keratitis.

Denver 20/20 Institute has built a reputation for high LASIK candidacy standards, experienced board certified ophthalmologists, advanced FDA-Approved laser technology, exceptional proven results and attentive customer service. All this has made 20/20 Institute the fastest growing laser vision correction provider in Denver. When you choose 20/20 Institute as your Denver LASIK provider, you can choose the comfort of our exclusive LASIK AssuranceTM.