LASIK / Benefits of LASIK

Can LASIK Cure Nearsightedness?

Commonly known as nearsightedness, myopia causes blurry vision when looking at a distance. The exact cause for myopia is not known, but it seems to be partly hereditary.

Nearsightedness Symptoms

If you are experiencing nearsightedness (myopia), you will have trouble seeing objects that are in the distant but will be able to see objects that are near very clearly. The reason for this is the shape of a person’s eyeball. The vision worsens if the eyeball is too long or if the cornea, which covers the front of the eye, has disproportionate curvature. For example, it’ll be difficult reading road signs while driving but easy to read books or use the computer. Furthermore, others signs include eye tiredness and headaches.

There are three major treatments to myopia: glasses, contact lenses, and LASIK.

Can LASIK Cure Farsightedness?

Hyperopia, best known as farsightedness, is a vision condition in which objects in distance seem clearer than the objects that are near. It is the exact opposite of myopia and it can also be cured with LASIK surgery. Hyperopia is caused by an imperfection in the shape of the eyeball. Either the eye is too short or the cornea has too little focusing ability due to it not being curved enough.

Hyperopia Symptoms

People suffering from hyperopia have a difficult time reading or focusing on objects that are near, which causes eye fatigue, straining of the eyes and burning. People tend to squint due to the blurred vision, which may cause headaches.

At first, the problems with hyperopia affect only the near vision. As a person reaches his or her thirties or forties, depending on the amount of hyperopia, far away vision will also become affected. At this point distance vision correction will be needed as well as near vision correction. LASIK can correct the distance and the near vision problems associated with hyperopia.

Can LASIK Cure Astigmatism?

Astigmatism is an irregular curvature of the eye. With astigmatism, one dimension of the cornea is more curved than the opposite dimension. An eye with astigmatism is slightly like the side of a football versus the side of a basketball. Astigmatism is commonly present in addition to nearsightedness, farsightedness and presbyopia. In fact, most people have at least some degree of astigmatism because the front of their eyes are not perfectly round. Astigmatism is easily corrected by LASIK.

Can LASIK Cure Presbyopia?

Presbyopia is an eye condition that is associated with aging, and is typically first noticed around age 40-50. People who are going through presbyopia experience vision blurriness at near. Usually, people start noticing their blurred vision with fine print while reading and this disability continues to worsen throughout time. Presbyopia is caused by stiffening of the focusing lens deep within the eye. When we are young, this lens can change shape very easily to allow us to focus clearly on distance and also near objects, but as we reach early middle age this lens will not adjust as well.

Presbyopia can be present with or without myopia, hyperopia and presbyopia.

Presbyopia and LASIK

People typically wear reading glasses or bifocal glasses to treat presbyopia, or contacts with readers. It is inconvenient to put on and take off reading glasses every time you engage in an activity that requires them. Monovision LASIK treats presbyopia by adjusting one of the eyes for distance vision and the other for near vision. This may sound bizarre, but most of us have one dominant eye that our brains favor over the other for distant vision. Many people find monovision to be the solution to presbyopia and reading glasses that works best for their lifestyle. A few minutes of simple testing in the office can determine if monovison is right for you!

Quality of Life Survey

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a highly publicized review of quality of life following LASIK laser vision correction. The Caster Eye Center was proud to be selected by the non-profit Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance, a patient advocacy group, to participate in a confidential national survey for this important FDA meeting. Our office was one of six throughout the United States, each selected for its outstanding reputation, to participate in this confidential survey of 1,800 LASIK vision correction patients. The patients were selected at random by the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance, which conducted the survey confidentially and tabulated the findings.

The study showed that more than 99% of patients reported their overall quality of life to be as expected or better than expected after laser vision correction.

Some additional results of this post-treatment, confidential survey: (Patients were asked to rate results as “much more/better than expected,” “more/better than expected,” “as expected,” “less/worse than expected,” and “much less/worse than expected.”)

96% wear corrective lenses as often as expected, less than expected, or much less than expected.

96% report post-treatment vision without lenses as expected, better than expected, or much better than expected when compared to pre-treatment vision with glasses or contact lenses.

7% report side effects, none of which were more than seldomly problematic; 91% of these patients who report side effects said they would have the treatment again.

In the patients treated by this select group of doctors, 0.4% — only one in every 250 patients – would not recommend the LASIK treatment to a friend. Although we wish that we could make this number zero, and we are trying, I still think that this is an exceedingly small number of people who are not adequately satisfied. This is an extremely low dissatisfaction rate compared to other types of medical procedures, or other types of activities in general.

The two main problems reported by these laser vision patients were feelings of dryness and night vision issues such as halos and glare. Of course, many people have difficulty with dryness and night vision problems prior to laser vision correction when using their glasses or contact lenses. 

Both of these side effects, in our experience, are typically temporary and are now largely preventable on an ongoing basis because of the latest advancements in the technology. Use of omega-3 fish oil pills or flax seed oil pills after the procedure has greatly diminished complaints of dryness. And the Allegretto laser has been proven to the FDA to lessen glare and halos compared to pre-laser vision with glasses or contact lenses.

Unfortunately for patients, the average laser center results are not nearly as good as our results. Patients need to spend more time selecting an excellent doctor and not be swayed by low prices. Low price equates to lower quality equipment and personnel, less intensive screening testing, and a less exacting attitude, with resulting lower quality visual results.

The above survey shows the results that we at Caster Eye Center are able to provide for our patients who choose LASIK. Los Angeles patients are thrilled to experience the best treatment possible. We are proud that Caster Eye Center was chosen as one of the top sites in the nation to survey for this important FDA evaluation. We are proud of the work we do and of our results.