Contents:
- Medical Video: Evolution of Corrective Eye Surgery
- What is refractive surgery?
- Types of laser refractive surgery for the eyes
- 1. Photo Refractive Keratectomy (PRK)
- 2. LASIK surgery
- 3. Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE)
Medical Video: Evolution of Corrective Eye Surgery
When you have a particular complaint regarding vision or eyes, you might have imagined the worst things that could happen. Especially if the ophthalmologist recommends treatment with refractive surgery. However, don't be afraid when you hear his name. This surgery is not as scary as in horror films, how come. The technology of refractive surgery for the eyes is always developing so that it does not cause pain or dangerous side effects. More details, see the following review.
What is refractive surgery?
Refractive surgery is a surgical procedure that corrects visual problems such as farsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia to reduce one's dependence on the use of glasses or contact lenses. Refractive surgery can change the refractive strength of the eye so that vision becomes better.
Refractive surgery helps improve the refractive strength of the eye by changing or modifying the normal shape of the cornea. The cornea itself is part of the eye that is shaped like a dome, very clear, and is at the very front of the eye. The cornea consists of five layers, namely the epithelium (the outermost layer), the Bowman membrane, the stroma, the descemet membrane, and the endothelium (the innermost layer). To improve vision, it is necessary to modify the stromal layer.
Types of laser refractive surgery for the eyes
There are currently three generations of laser refractive surgical procedures. The three are the first generation CRP (Photo Refractive Keratectomy), second generation LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomyelusis), and third generation SMILE (small incision lenticule extraction) To date, LASIK is the most common and often performed refractive surgical procedure. Well, here are the explanations and differences in each refractive surgery that you might need to go through.
1. Photo Refractive Keratectomy (PRK)
In PRK, the front of the cornea (epithelial layer) is removed. Then with a laser, the ophthalmologist will modify the shape of the cornea. The PRK procedure only takes about 5 minutes for one side of the eye.
After surgery, patients must use special contact lenses to protect the cornea. Well, because there is a part of the cornea that is removed, it takes a long time for the patient to be able to see again clearly. It takes approximately a week for patients to see well, so the CRP procedure is usually done on one side of the eye first.
As for the normal epithelial layer, it takes several months. PRK can be used to improve myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism.
2. LASIK surgery
LASIK also uses the same principle, namely changing the shape of the cornea using a laser. The difference with PRK is that the LASIK will be made "flap" first. Using a laser, the front part of the cornea is partially sliced and then opened like opening a window. After that, the cornea is modified using a laser. Then the front of the cornea is closed again.
Because of the flap, healing after LASIK is much faster. It only takes one day for patients to move again as usual. Even so, the LASIK procedure is not recommended for people who have a risk of eye trauma such as boxers because the flap makes the cornea less stable.
In addition, those of you who have thin corneas are not recommended for LASIK. As with PRK, LASIK can also be used to improve myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism.
3. Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE)
SMILE is a development of the two previous generations. Still on the same principle, but the SMILE procedure is different from LASIK and PRK.
Using a special laser, the eye surgeon will cut the inside of the cornea (precisely the stromal layer), then make a small incision on the edge of the cornea as a way out to remove a part of the cornea that had been cut with a laser. The incision made is only 2-4 mm (therefore called "small incision " or a small incision), much smaller than the LASIK procedure which makes an incision of 20 mm.
With smaller incisions, the SMILE procedure has a lower risk of side effects than LASIK and PRK.
Just like LASIK, it only takes one day for patients to recover and be able to move as usual again. This is because vision usually becomes much better in one day. The disadvantage is that this procedure can only be used to treat myopia.
The three laser refractive surgical procedures above have their advantages and disadvantages. The right choice is different for each person so it is far more to consult first with your ophthalmologist.
