LASIK and Eye Surgery Blog - Clearview Eye and Laser Medical Center

Laser use for eye surgery, and most other types of surgery, has become widespread in recent years, and for many good reasons. First, what is a laser?

It's a man-made light, made for a specific purpose. Each laser has a set wavelength, which is another way of saying that each laser is a specific color. They can have a visible color, or they can be outside our visible range, which makes them either infrared or ultraviolet.

Light is a form of energy, and a laser provides its energy is a very useful way: the laser light travels in lockstep, directional and parallel. This makes for a very precise, focused beam of light which can be used surgically. It is different from flashlights or headlights, for instance, which are scattered light.

Of course some lasers are not suitable for surgeries, being too hot and powerful. The lasers used for vision correction are called Excimer lasers (a made-up name based on the way these lasers are created). They are relatively cool, ultraviolet lasers.

Little or no bleeding

Lasers are used in medicine and dentistry in place of blades. Use of a blade will cut and cause bleeding, creating the risks of too much bleeding, blood clots, and infection, and leaving a scar afterwards. Use of a laser avoids all this. The laser is set to penetrate at a certain depth, and in directing its focused energy it breaks the connections between certain cells, but not between others.

Those cells are now disconnected, and will vaporize in the laser's warmth. As the laser does this, it also seals the tissue where it worked. So blood vessels are closed and do not bleed.

Speed, accuracy and less anesthetic

Lasers pulse or beam very quickly. They work fast and with microscopic accuracy, far faster and more accurate than any hand-held blade could ever be. Because they do not cut, and cause no collateral damage, less anesthetic needs to be used, and sometimes none at all.

Lasers have revolutionized medicine and dentistry. We are fortunate to live in an era where surgery is vastly safer, less painful, and faster than it has ever been before. Our laser vision center in San Diego, California offers precise, safe, and fast LASIK vision correction which was not at all possible a few decades ago.

• LASIK
• PRK
• IntraLase
• Presbyopia
• Implantable Contact Lenses
• Intacs
• Cataracts
• BOTOX®

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