LASIK-Truth.com

Live video of Paul Ross having his laser eye surgery on the ‘This Morning’ TV show.

Fern Britten and Philip Schofield interview Paul Ross and Dr. Dave Allamby about laser eye surgery.

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WHENEVER a patient undergoes any type of surgical treatment there is a possibility for a complication. The main questions are: are these complications serious and could affect the final outcome - or minor and short lived and which do not affect the ultimate vision? Also, what are the chances of a complication occurring that would require adjustment or follow-up correction?

LASIK surgery is no different from any other operation, despite how it may be pitched by some clinics, in that it IS a surgical correction and should be approached as such. However, and fortunately, most complications are in fact minor and easily resolved.

Technology

LASIK risk continues to drop as doctors and engineers perfect the equipment used in the treatment. Advances in technology have made a big part of the difference here so make sure you are getting that latest equipment and not an older fashioned approach.

The risks drop as doctors continue to screen for the right candidates to have the procedure, and screen out those with any chance to have a problem. Research also shows that with the right pre-testing and surgical handling, the risk of complications in LASIK surgery is less than 1% and most of these are minor problems which will be fully corrected afterwards without undue ongoing problems.

The most common risk with LASIK surgery is a complication with the flap, created by the surgeon in the first part of the procedure.

In the original LASIK procedure, the flap is cut by a surgical blade device known as a microkeratome. The blade cut is, however, less precise than those from newer femtosecond lasers.

Blade Free LASIK

LASIK risk is reduced by the newer “bladeless” dual laser technique.

In bladeless (blade free) LASIK surgery, the risk of complications is lower because the blade or microkeratome is no longer used. It is replaced by special type of infra-red laser that greatly reduces human or machine error.

The original laser to make a LASIK flap came from the USA, manufactured by Intralase. You may see this surgery called IntraLASIK or iLASIK.

The newer machine is from Switzerland and produced by the Ziemer Group of companies. There appear to be some advantages of the tighter focus of the Swiss laser. This procedure may be called Z-LASIK.

Summary

When assessing these LASIK risks it is recommended that when you are considering surgery that you ask your doctor what technology the clinic has and whether or not a blade free dual laser approach will be used.

Technorati Tags: AMO, choose, clinic, complications, eye surgery, femtosecond, iLASIK, Intralase, LASIK, Safety, surgeon, Z-LASIK, Ziemer

Following on my reply to Peter’s comment on whether or not LASIK is acceptable for joining the UK police force, I thought I would add this info to clarify. You can see an excerpt form the official police eyesight form below.

YES, LASIK is fully acceptable for the police force, as is LASEK, PRK and ICRS (Intra-Corneal Ring Segments). The main criteria is whether or not the cornea is weakened following surgery and LASIK, PRK etc. are NOT considered to affect the strength of the cornea versus possible trauma from working as a police officer.

However, radial keratotomy (RK, ‘microsurgery’), arcuate keratotomy (AK) and corneal grafts are all procedures that do weaken the cornea and applicants who have had these treatments WILL be rejected by the police.

Get more information on eyesight requirements, LASIK and the police at the official police website here or download the eyesight police criteria PDF form here.

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The new femtosecond lasers have eliminated the need for a blade in LASIK laser eye surgery. All leading laser eye treatment clinics now offer blade free LASIK as a safer and more accurate procedure for patients.

Traditional LASIK has used a microkeratome to cut a flap. The microkeratome is a hand-held device, which contains a steel blade that moves back and forth to create a cut as it travels across the cornea. A microkeratome is only capable of making a single, one-dimensional cut across the cornea. As it cuts, the blade oscillates back and forth, which can leave an irregular surface after the flap is lifted. This can affect the quality of your postoperative vision.

One week after surgery more than 76 percent of femtosecond laser patients achieved an uncorrected visual acuity of at least 20/16 (better than 20/20) compared to only 58 percent of microkeratome patients

Because of the unique way in which the All Laser Method (femtosecond laser) creates a precisely positioned layer of micro-bubbles just beneath the surface of your eye, it creates a smooth even surface after your flap is lifted. With this method, a blade never touches your eye.

Tags: LASIK

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Leeds-based laser eye surgery company Ultralase has increased its network of clinics by acquiring The Cambridge Eye Laser Clinic for an undeclared sum. The purchase is the company’s second since it was bought by 3i in February for £174 million, and follows the acquisition of Belfast’s Allclear clinic in April.

The Cambridge Eye Laser Clinic was created in 2002 by eye surgeon and clinical director Chris Stephenson as part of the Allclear Group of clinics. Stephenson bought out the clinic from the group in 2006.

The Cambridge centre add to Ultralase’s 23 UK clinics as part of the group’s ambitious expansion plans. Ultralase recently opened a new consulting room in Sheffield, with plans to open 3 more in 2008.

Technorati Tags: clinics, laser eye surgery, news, UK, Ultralase

Let’s look at the second of Carlo’s questions on laser eye surgery:

My name is Carlo and I have recently discovered this great blog. I would like to ask a couple of questions regarding eye surgery:
Question: Is it true that the LASIK procedure has not been approved for air-force pilots and astronauts in the US but PRK and LASEK has?

No, this is not true.

LASIK was approved for use on consumers a decade ago and reportedly more than 11 million LASIK procedures have been performed in the US. This means LASIK laser eye surgery is the most-common American elective surgical procedure.

NASA has approved LASIK for use on pilots, mission and payload specialists who face extreme and often physically demanding conditions in space. The all-laser LASIK technologies, using a blade free femtosecond laser approach, have also been cleared for U.S. military personnel, including most recently Air Force pilots.

“NASA’s approval is further evidence that today’s LASIK exceeds all established standards of safety and effectiveness,” said Steven Schallhorn, M.D., retired captain of the U.S. Navy.

Though LASIK has been around for a long time, concerns about the harsh environment in aviation prevented its use. To date, aero-medical professionals have been cautious of employing the procedure on military pilots who often encounter environmental extremes such as high altitude, dry air, wind exposure and “G” forces. In space, other conditions further add even higher levels of concern due to the very high level of precision needed during flight and space walks.

Defense Department’s research into laser vision correction included the following results:

# In a study of different methods to create the LASIK flap, 370 naval personnel underwent bilateral (both eyes) wavefront-guided LASIK with either the femtosecond laser (blade free) or microkeratome blade. One week after surgery more than 76 percent of femtosecond laser patients achieved an uncorrected visual acuity of at least 20/16 (better than 20/20) compared to only 58 percent of microkeratome patients

# In an evaluation of 785 pilots, 89% of Navy aviators evaluated their ability to land on an aircraft carrier as moderately to significantly better after laser eye surgery. None said it was worse after treatment

# A separate study determined that over 90 percent of marksmen had improvement in marksmanship skills after laser eye surgery; an impressive finding given the visual precision of marksmen

LASIK, particularly blade free femtosecond LASIK, appears to have established itself as a very effective and reliable procedure. The move from blade to laser blade free has allowed another significant improvement in results (now targeting better than 20/20 as a standard of care) according to the above research findings.

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You can still read Rick’s story about his treatment with me, online at the Daily Mail’s website. Rick talks about the whole process in a very interesting article from Rachel Kaufman.

Follow the link below to read the full article.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-404859/New-laser-surgery-cured-long-short-sight.html

Technorati Tags: FOCUS Laser Vision, laser eye surgery, London, long sight, news, presbyopia, surgery, wavefront