Optilase Enniskillen

The surgery mostly involves resharpening the layer which covers the front of the eye commonly known as cornea. Hence different techniques are applied to astigmatism and other problems related to eyes such as hypermatropia (long sight) and myopia (short sight) among others.

Astigmatism refers to normal cornea shaped of a person resembling that of a basket that is caused as a result of unequally bending of light entering the eye, causing blurriness or some distortion. Therefore most of the people who may suffer from this, might squint too much to see especially small objects, causing a lot of headache to them because of trying to focus.

Types of astigmatism

Regular astigmatism - This is one of the common types related to this condition, which is mostly found among many of the elderly people.
Irregular astigmatism - It’s less common as compared to the other type and is mostly caused by an infectious known as keratoconus, which gradually forms a thin layer in the cornea. Other causes such as surgery, injury and also eye infectious lead to the condition.

Various laser eye surgeries used for the correction of astigmatism

Depending on whether its regular or irregular astigmatism, the condition can be properly treated with laser eye surgery at http://www.optilase.co.uk/optilase-enniskillen/. However it’s significant for any physician to accurately determine which type of astigmatism one is suffering from; for the need of identifying the best eye treatment options to offer. This is as a result of different types of laser eye treatment that are available in the world today.

Ths includes the following;

Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK).

This is the most elective and effective surgery performed in many countries especially in North America. With the aim of resharpening the inner layer of the cornea for the need of correcting astigmatism. For many people with moderate or mild astigmatism, it has been proven as the best treatment.

How the process works

The procedure is performed by ophthalmologists, specialized medical doctors in surgical treatment of the eye. The outline of the procedure is as follows;

The application of anesthetic drops to the eye.
Afterwards the creation of the protective flap by the LASIK surgeon for the need of accessing the inner corneal tissue. When this procedure continue ones vision dims and becomes blurry for a short time. Hence after the creation of the flap, the ability of seeing flaxing fixation light of the laser and the bright light being used is enabled.
Then, the inner layer of one’s cornea receives computer controlled pulses of cool laser light. Although the laser light is invisible, with a clicking sound as it reshapes and improves the inner corneal layer. During the process, an eye tracking device tracks eye movement for the need adequate corrections.
After resharpening of the tissues, the surgeon aligns and reposition's the flap original position. Then, the placement of protective shields over the eye is done due to the protection against accidental rubbing as the flap continues to heal naturally, with great care for the next several hours.

Laser Epithelial Keratomileusis (LASEK).

This involves the creation of epithelial flap and loosening of epithelial cells using an alcoholic solution. With the same similarity with the other the laser, it’s used to reshape the cornea; replacing the flap and securing it with soft contact lenses as it continues to heal. The LASEK surgeons can correct all problems to do with astigmatism and related infections such as farsightedness and also nearsightedness.

Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE)

Also referred to as clear lens extraction, which has similar characterizes to the surgery done for the cataracts. It involves making small incisions at the edges of the cornea for the need of removing natural lens of the eye and consequently replacing it with a plastic lens or silicon.

Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK)

This is a type of laser eye surgery used to treat astigmatism, nearsightedness and also farsightedness. During the surgery, the PRK surgeon uses the laser for the need of resharpening the cornea, which has cool pulsing beam of ultraviolet light. Therefore it’s used on the surface of the cornea but not underneath a flap of the cornea.

With the similar procedures to that of the photorefractive keratectomy, separation of the thin layer from the cornea and then resharpening it is done. The replacement of the thin layer is performed or left off; hence soft contact lenses are used to protect the area as it continues to heal.

Astigmatic Keratotomy (RK)

It’s mostly known surgical procedure used to correct astigmatism, in which one or two incisions are made at the steepest part of the cornea. The purpose of the incisions is always made to relax the cornea and facilitate it in taking a more rounded shape.

Henceforth, for anyone having the problem of astigmatism, it’s advisable for him or her to go for sufficient correction and further treatment due to the availability of many laser eye surgery treatments options.