Dr. Supriya Agashe

I am Dr Sunita Lulla Gur, senior consultant eye specialist in Sarita Vihar. Today, I will speak about the topic LASIK.

What do you mean by LASIK?

Lasik is a surgery which stands for Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis.

Why this surgery is done?

This surgery is done basically to correct the vision and eye power like- near sightedness, far sightedness, astigmatism. LOt many times we do get questions from many people like "I am eligible for LASIK or not?". So just for the short brief I will take you to the journey of LASIK. 

As it is one of a cosmetic surgery, I would say but there are other advantages that why one can go for LASIK is;

• It corrects the power
• It gives good vision
• It improves the contarst

These are the advantages which is why one can go ahead with the LASIK surgery.

Sometimes people think that at what age a person can have LASIK surgery?

So the criteria for the LASIK surgery is that;

• The age should be more than 18 years.
• Your power should be stablized for atleast 1 year
• Your cornea should be fit to under take the LASIK surgery.
• Another criteria is that the females who are pregnant should not undeergo LASIK at that time.

These are the main 4 selections for the LASIK. Again depending on the number, LASIK can be done from 0.5 to -10 also. Nowadays there are many technologies coming and lot of advances have been done . We are now doing in high powers also. Again we have to select the candidate properly for successfull outcome of LASIK.

The success rate of LASIK is usually 93-95%. Initially the success rate was less and the reasons for improving its success rate is that the selection criteria has improved. Our protocols have improved over the period of time.

There are different types of LASIK which are been done, those are,

• C-LASIK  - We make a superficially thin flap and the reshaping of the cornea is done as per the number and a person can see a good image after that. When the re shaping is done then the rays which comes focus properly on the retina. So it does the work how we do in practical correction. Here the microkeratome blade where the flap is removed and after that the reshaping of the cornea is done by the laser.
• I-LASIK - It is bladeless LASIK surgery where the flap which is being removed is done by the laser itself and no blade is used. The advantage of this is that it can be done in thin cornea also. So, if the person is having thin cornea as per the criteria which we set, then I-LASIK can be done in these type of cases.
• Contoura vision LASIK - This is an advanced surgery which has come in which the computerized topography is done and which is attached to LASIK which can pick up the minor abrasion which are present in the cornea so that it can correct the vision to its fullest. So sometimes we do have patients who are completely satisfied with the change in their vision. It also reduces the chances of dryness which is there after LASIK surgery.

So, when we plan for LASIK, there are certain criteria for the selection as I have explained. But for the successfull result,

• You have to follow the advices that are been given by the doctor.
• You should not put any water in the eyes after LASIK surgery.
• You should not rub your eyes.
• You should use the eye drops as suggested by the doctor.

Follow the protocol atleast for one month.

The precautions are;

• Water should not go inside the eyes.
• Avoid swimming atleast for 3 months.
• Avoid going to gym atleast for 1-3 months.

Otherwise, you can go to the office next day. Initially you may feel discomfort but you can see the improvement in the vision the very next day. Every season is suitable for LASIK sugery and rest it depends on the fitness of a person for the surgery.

If you want to contact for any LASIK appointment, you can do it through Lybrate.

Thank you