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

LASIK treats three vision problems:

• Farsightedness
• Nearsightedness
• Astigmatism

These three problems are all caused by the shape of the eye, not by any problem with the lens or retina, for instance. A LASIK treatment modifies the shape of the cornea (clear front part of the eye), to change the way the eye focuses.

When you're farsighted, you can see well in the distance, but not up close. This is caused by the cornea being too flat. The curvature of the cornea bends light rays as they enter the eye, and when it’s too flat, it doesn’t bend them enough when they’re coming from near objects.

When they're coming from distant objects, they don’t need to be bent as much, so the cornea's relative flatness is not a problem. Coming from near objects, the light rays need to be bent at a more acute angle, and a farsighted cornea is unable to do it. So the light rays don't focus on the retina and give a clear image. Instead, they focus behind the retina and give a fuzzy image.

A treatment plan for farsightedness directs the excimer laser towards the edges of the cornea rather than the center. Since the laser vaporizes tissue to change the corneal shape, that vaporized tissue needs to come from the edges in order to make the cornea a little steeper. Being more steeply curved, it will then bend light rays slightly more and give you clear images.

If the farsighted cornea were to be made too steep, you would then be nearsighted. LASIK is a very precise treatment, and choosing your LASIK surgeon well is the first step in achieving improved vision. At ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center in San Diego, California we use only the best technology and adhere to the highest standards of care. If you are in the San Diego, California area, send us an email or give us a call.

This week in San Diego has brought us all together as a community. Families, friends, and coworkers are now definitely closer. The fires have scared and affected everyone. I like many of you, was evacuated by the proximity of fires to my home. In fact, I have been out of my own home for three days and am thankful for the efforts made to save our property and to maintain my family's safety. I am also thankful to the friends who welcomed my family into their home and giving us a sense of relief in this terrible time.

I am also extremely thankful for my ability to improve the quality of life for my patients. During this time, my practice, ClearView managed to stay open each and every day by my loyal employees showing up with a caring attitude to provide for the patients in need. The fire impacted people's eyes in a number of ways....some people received direct trauma from embers in their eyes while evacuating while others were impacted by the dryness from the strong Santa Ana winds and low humidity. Others had difficulties with contact lenses due to the soot and particles in the air. A press release is enclosed on this www site which details some of things that can happen with fires and will still be occurring as we enter our soot filled homes.

One of the most gratifying experiences has been seeing my ClearView Team rally together for each other, for patients, and the public. As a team, we went to Qualcomm Stadium and donated preservative free tears, sunglasses, fanny packs, and instructions on how to care for their eyes during this unusual time. As a team, we were moved and have a sense of pride and accomplishment in providing wonderful vision to thousands of people! We realized how fortunate we were!One of our more recent patients realized that now is the time to have her laser vision correction done after she almost stepped on her glasses which were dropped during her evacuation. We are grateful to have the ability to provide the miracle of laser vision correction to all and thank you for your continued support!

Thank you for reading this blog today and learning about ClearView Eye & Laser Medical Center.

Labels: LASIK vision correction during emergency

Laser has become a word, though originally it was an acronym for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. All lasers are man-made light beams. Some are so hot they can cut through a block of steel. Others are cool. Some are pulsed, others steady; some wide, others microscopically narrow.

Each laser vibrates at a specific frequency, and each frequency corresponds to a color. Some we can see, and others are beyond our ability to see, being infrared or ultraviolet. Laser light shines in parallel, straight waves, rather than scattered rays like incandescent lights or sunshine. This makes it extraordinarily precise.

The laser used for LASIK vision correction is the excimer laser, which is ultraviolet and cool. Its light is well-absorbed by body tissues. It works by breaking the bonds between tissue molecules, disintegrating small pieces of tissue into the air – that is, vaporizing them. Its heat is dissipated along with the vaporized tissue. Photoablation is another word for this process.

It can vaporize microscopically tiny pieces of the cornea (front of the eye) without affecting the rest of the eye. It penetrates the corneal treatment surface to a distance of less than one-billionth of a meter (a nanometer). The focus of its beam can be as small as the width of half a human hair.

Such precision enables safe and precise LASIK treatments. The excimer laser is also used in the other vision correction procedures we offer here in San Diego: IntraLase and PRK. These two treatments accomplish the same excellent results as a WaveFront CustomVue LASIK treatment, but are more suitable for people with thinner corneas than average. Give us a call or send an email to see which would be the best procedure for you.

Since traditional LASIK was approved by the FDA in the mid-1990s, other refractive procedures have been developed as alternatives. IntraLase is one of them. It’s the only refractive vision correction which uses no blade of any kind. Instead, it uses a second laser.

The first step in laser vision correction, whether it’s LASIK or any of the alternatives, is to somehow expose the tissue below the corneal surface for the laser to work on it. Most procedures make a small flap on the surface and fold it back out of the way. When the laser work is finished, the flap is replaced and heals by itself. Most procedures create the flap using a blade of some kind, but IntraLase uses its second laser.

It’s known as a femtosecond laser, referring to a femtosecond, which is a quadrillionth of a second. It is an ultra-fast laser emitting light in ultra-short pulses. Such short pulses are too short to cause any damage to the eyes. It creates microscopic bubbles beneath the corneal surface, loosening the bonds between cells, so that the surface tissue can be easily lifted.

The U.S. Air Force has approved IntraLase for its pilots and NASA approved Intralase for its astronauts after extensive study. Astronauts deal with very physically stressful conditions in space, but NASA decided that the excellent safety of IntraLase made it allowable. The eye heals very well after Intralase. At our Clearview Eye and Laser Medical Center here in San Diego, we offer LASIK, Intralase, and other excellent alternatives for vision correction.

Labels: LASIK, vision correction

Everyone aged about 45 or more knows the annoying necessity of wearing reading glasses or contacts. This “over 40 eyes” is called Presbyopia, and LASIK does not treat it. It’s like farsightedness, because that person can see down the road just fine, but can’t read the map without glasses. But it has a different cause. LASIK treats vision impairment which is caused by the shape of the cornea. Those conditions are nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

Presbyopia is caused by the eye’s lens getting stiffer as we age. So reshaping the cornea will not help. The Presbyopia problem is that the lens can no longer change its curvature so readily. It tends to stay flat. So when light bounces off the map you’re trying to read and enters the eye, the lens doesn’t bend it enough for you to see clearly. Instead of focusing on the retina at the back of the eye, and forming a clear image, the light from the map focuses behind the retina and so the map looks blurry.

There’s no way we can restore flexibility to the lens, but we can restore the effects of flexibility by using an implantable intraocular lens (IOL). It would replace your natural lens and give you clear vision at all distances.

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

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• Great Vision starts with Healthy Eyes

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