Posts Tagged AK
Don’t Compromise: Have Blade Free Lasik or No Surgery at all!
Posted by Dr. John Suson in Milwaukee Eye Care on July 7th, 2009
I recently had a patient tell me the cost of Lasik was his biggest concern. He liked the idea of the top end blade-free technology, but if it wasn’t within his price range, then he couldn’t have it anyway. My answer to this patient: “Your choice is clear. Do NOT have Lasik at all…at least until you can save up some money to have it done right.”
12 Steps to Deal with Dry Eye After Lasik
Posted by Dr. John Suson in Milwaukee Eye Care on June 25th, 2009
Dry eye is something that can occur after Lasik eye surgery and every patient should be aware of it. Actually, studies indicate that tear production and blink reflexes are reduced in all patients that undergo Lasik, but it does not usually cause any symptoms. The cause of the dry eye is due to the disruption of the corneal nerves by the cutting of the Lasik flap and the excimer laser treatment of the cornea itself. The deeper the treatment goes, the more likely that dry eye symptoms will occur. Actually, recent studies have shown that contact lens wear also causes increase in dry eye over time. This contact lens effect is a slower, more chronic process. Because it happens so gradually, contact lens related dry eye takes longer to be noticed by a patient whereas a Lasik patient may be aware of it within days or weeks.
For those rare patients that experience dry eye symptoms, as the cornea heals over a three to six month period, the nerves regenerate and much of the dry eye problems will resolve. Nonetheless, there are a number of measures that can be taken to speed the process and make it a better overall experience for the patient. The sooner the dry eye resolves, the sooner you will be more comfortable and your vision will return to its crispest potential. I have even seen some second opinion patients that were 6 months to a year after Lasik that never had their dry eye problems aggressively treated and still had persistent discomfort and moderately diminished (although annoying) vision. It seems to me that many chain surgery centers and surgeons under treat dry eye because they perceive it as a minimal problem whereas the some patients may feel it is significant.
I use a number of strategies to minimize and treat dry eye in all of my Lasik patients:
Wavefront Guided Lasik and Night Driving Performance
Posted by Dr. John Suson in Milwaukee Eye Care on June 4th, 2009
Wavefront Guided Lasik and Night Driving.
Wavefront Guided Lasik treatments use a highly advanced method of scanning the eye for higher order optical aberrations. It has been known for some time that using the excimer laser to eliminate these optical aberrations gives better visual outcomes in situations of low light compared to conventional Lasik treatments. The Wavefront system that I use is called the Visx Star S4 IR Customvue™ system.
Epithelial Ingrowth After Lasik Surgery
Posted by Dr. John Suson in Milwaukee Eye Care on May 29th, 2009
One well known complication of Lasik Surgery is Epithelial Ingrowth. Epithelium is the very fast growing cell layer that covers the eye. Actually, there is an epithelium that covers every part of the outside of your body. It is rapidly growing and constantly shedding and renewing itself throughout your lifetime. The epithelium should remain on the very outer surface of the body, but at times we can see it grow beneath the surface where it becomes trapped and cannot properly shed and renew itself. On the skin, epithelial ingrowth appears as a cyst or bump and has only a cosmetic consequence.
Treatment of Astigmatism in Cataract and Refractive Surgery
Posted by Dr. John Suson in Milwaukee Eye Care on May 28th, 2009
Treating Astigmatism in Cataract and Refractive Surgery