BEFORE SURGERY

The operation is preceded by a detailed interview and examination, which will determine whether you are a suitable candidate for this intervention or not.

Am I a good candidate?

Laser surgery lets you lead a life without wearing either glasses or contact lenses, but not all individuals are suitable candidates for laser diopter removal.

The following criteria must be fulfilled if a person wants to be a suitable candidate:

• Over 20 years of age
• Stable diopter for at least one year (i.e. it was not changed more than +/- 0.5 diopters)
• Diopters in the range:
  • up to + 5.0D of shortsightedness
  • up to – 10.0D of nearsightedness
  • up to +/- 5.0D of astigmatism
• Healthy and thick enough cornea
• Absence of autoimmune diseases, eye infections or eye injuries

Then we estimate the fulfillment of the listed conditions in a detailed preoperative examination after which we inform a patient whether he/she is a good candidate for this or some other technique of diopter removal.

Surgery

The procedure is painless and reliable, it lasts for 10 minutes, and the laser removal of the diopter itself takes only a couple of seconds. It is performed in the local eyedrop anesthesia and allows immediate improvement of eyesight.

Methods

The two most commonly used methods are LASIK and PRK. The decision on which method will be applied is made by the surgeon based on the results of the performed preoperative examination. The cost of the surgery is the same, regardless of the type of technique being applied.

1. LASIK is one of the most common and most popular methods of laser diopter removal. Only people with perfectly healthy eyes are suitable candidates. LASIK is a painless procedure and it takes about 10 minutes, whereby laser diopter removal lasts for only 2.5 seconds per diopter. Eyesight improvement is achieved immediately. An anesthetic is dripped into the eye, which makes the procedure painless. When anesthesia is being effective, a thin cap is created and moved aside. That is followed by the laser remodeling of the surface of the cornea, which is not pain sensitive. After that, the cap is returned to its place.

Immediately after the procedure a patient should rest with his/her eyes closed. After 5 to 7 days, a person can return to everyday activities, and after 3 weeks he/she can perform more challenging both physical and sports activities. During the entire recovery process, it is extremely important that you adhere to prescribed therapy. The first postoperative examination will be done one day after the surgery, while further examinations are up to an each individual.

2. In such cases when preoperative examinations show that the cornea is too thin or that the eye is dry, the PRK method is applied. This method does not require the corneal incision, so it is performed on the surface of the eye. The surface layer of the cornea (epithelium) is removed, which is followed by the correction of the diopter by the laser, and after that a protective therapeutic contact lens is placed over it, and it covers the cornea for several days, protects the eye and accelerates healing. The removed layer of cells regenerates within a few days.

The eye drop anesthesia is also used for this procedure as well, which makes the surgery comfortable and it only lasts for a few minutes. The effect of the anesthetics stops one hour after surgery, and then it is sometimes possible, due to the removed surface layer of the cornea, to feel irritation in the operated eye, which in most cases disappears within 24 to 48 hours. In the first days after surgery, it is possible to feel tearing in the eye, a light sensitivity, swelling of the eyelid, a strange thing inside of the eye and dryness in the operated eye. The appropriate eye drops and soothing eye treatments are prescribed for these short-term discomforts. A significant eyesight improvement is achieved within 5 to 7 days, when the removed cell layer regenerates again. In most cases the eyesight is stabilized in 2 to 4 weeks.

Moderate discomfort as well as a slightly longer recovery period in this method compared to LASIK are the essential differences between these two methods. One month after the operation there is no difference in the quality of the achieved results, since both methods are equally effective.

Technology

We use the Wavelight Allegretto Eye Q 400 Hz laser, which, thanks to the advanced technology of the fifth generation, takes only 2.5 seconds to correct one diopter.

After surgery

After surgery, as soon as in 5-7 days only, you are able to return to everyday life activities, and after three weeks to more difficult physical and sports activities. The first postoperative examination will be done one day after the surgery, while further examinations are up to an each individual.