9. LASIK
What is LASIK surgery?
Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) eye surgery
is a procedure that corrects certain vision problems,
reducing or eliminating the need for eyeglasses or
corrective lenses.
LASIK eye surgery is the most common type of refractive
surgery. Refractive surgery changes the shape of the
dome-shaped transparent tissue (cornea) at the front of
your eye.
The desired result of LASIK eye surgery is to bend
(refract) light rays to focus more precisely on your
retina rather than at some point beyond or short of
your retina.
The goal of LASIK eye surgery is to produce clearer,
sharper vision.
LASIK eye surgery may be an option for you if you have
one of these vision problems (refractive error):
Nearsightedness (myopia): When your eyeball is slightly
longer than normal or when the cornea curves too
sharply, light rays focus in front of the retina and blur
distant vision. You can see objects that are close more
clearly, but not those that are far away.
Farsightedness (hypermetropia): When you have a
shorter than average eyeball or a cornea that is too flat,
light focuses behind the retina instead of on it. This
makes near vision and sometimes distant vision blurry.
Astigmatism: When the cornea curves or flattens
unevenly, the result is astigmatism, which disrupts focus
of near and distant vision.
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