Surgical Treatment Of Eye Complaints And Improvements That Have Helped To Make The Procedure Less Dangerous And Less Difficult
The treatment of eye complaints and problems has moved on massively over the last fifty years or so. Treatment for problems such as short-sightedness and long-sightedness could only be helped by the prescribing of corrective spectacles, and more recently by contact lenses. But in the background, science has progressed and surgery has become more and more standard as a treatment.
In the early days, eye surgery was carried out using traditional surgical equipment such as knives (though they were very delicate ones!), but obviously using such a sharp object on such a delicate organ as an eye carries with it a large amount of risk, and eye experts began to investigate safer ways of undertaking corrective surgery which decreased the risk to the patient.
Through such research and experimentation during the 1970’s and 1980’s, the concept of Laser eye surgery was born, and now, very often, patients are steered towards this alternative treatment for common eye complaints rather than corrective lenses of some type.
For anybody who is suffering with their vision, the first thing to do is visit an optician (often described as an optometrist), who can carry out the usual sight tests to ascertain the nature of the problem. For simple problems, or where the patient just requires an amended prescription for, say reading glasses, the optician will deal with the treatment himself (or herself). Other conditions may require medication or other treatment by a GP. But cases of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism can all be passed on to an ophthalmologist with a view to the patient undergoing Laser eye treatment. An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor who is fully trained in the care and treatment of all health problems concerning the eyes, including Laser eye surgery for the previously mentioned problems.
These three complaints all involve the cornea (the front part of the eye) not being able to properly process the light that reaches it which therefore causes the images the patient sees to be out of focus when they reach the retina (the back of the eye). Myopia is also referred to as short-sightedness, which means that things at a distance away appear to be blurred. Hyperopia is the reverse of myopia, causing objects in close proximity to the eye to become out of focus, and astigmatism is caused by a slightly misshapen cornea, which means all vision is blurred.
The collective medical name for treatment of these health concerns is Refractive Surgery, which denotes that somehow – whether it be traditional surgery or Laser eye treatment – the patient’s optical measurement or eye shape will be altered to improve their eyesight. To confirm; ‘refraction’ in this instance describes the way that light changes as it reaches the eye, and so changes speed and direction. By using Laser eye surgery to alter the shape of the cornea, an ophthalmologist can ensure that the light reaching the eye does so at the correct angle so that the thing being viewed is no longer blurred and can be seen quite clearly by the patient.
As previously stated, the greatest benefit of carrying out these procedures by Laser eye treatment is the much decreased risk to the patient. There is no need for a general anaesthetic in order to complete the surgery, and the laser itself efficiently vaporises the cells that need removing, meaning there is no chance of cuts or burns to the eye. Also, patient recovery times are far shorter by reason of the less invasive nature of the treatment.
Obviously, there will always be some risk attached to any sort of surgery, and the patient will always be warned of the risks before the process is confirmed, but there can be no doubt that Laser eye surgery is a very successful and popular addition to the selection of optical treatments available.