Millions of people wake up every morning and have to reach for their glasses to see what kind of day it is. But each year over a million of these people decide to do something about it, and start looking into vision correction procedures. LASIK surgery has become a very popular alternative among the variety of choices available.

It is not only Interest in LASIK surgery that has increased dramatically over the past few years. So has the technology, the body of evidence and the quality of life for huge numbers of people. There are many ways that things become “popular” in our media-rich culture, but there are very good, very logical reasons that LASIK has become the vision correction method of choice. Certainly there are more than five reasons why LASIK surgery is now such a popular alternative, but to start you out in this particular area of study, we will start with these. Additional information at DocShop.com, and from other resources as well as the doctors you approach about the procedure, will eventually supply you with everything you need to make your own best decision in this important matter.

1. Famous athletes, politicians and entertainers—in addition to people from all walks of life—are attesting to the joy they feel now that they are able to see their world clearly and in focus. These testimonials have fueled increasing interest and excitement about this revolutionary procedure.

2. The evidence of many years now shows conclusively that LASIK patients recover more quickly than with other methods of vision correction. Considering the busy lifestyles in this day and age, the swift and simple LASIK procedure is favored also because it does not sideline the patient for any length of time. A day or two of rest is sufficient for most patients, who appreciate the fact that they can get back to work and to their family in short order—and see better, of course.

3. Another reason that LASIK surgery has become the preferred procedure for the majority of vision correction patients is because they notice significant vision improvements very soon after surgery. Although in some cases it make take several months for everything to “settle down” and get back to normal, in the vast majority of cases the improvement comes quickly and stabilizes quickly, too.

4. The number of adverse side effects is lower with the LASIK procedure than with other approaches, and the amount of post-operative pain is also less. This means that recovery is smoother and the patient does not need to be taking pain killers than will inhibit their ability to work and live normally. This is a very important consideration for many people.

5. A comparison of the LASIK cost with its proven outcome shows that the procedure is an incredible bargain. For several thousand dollars, a life of blurriness and eye fatigue can be replaced by one of clarity, focus and good old normal eyesight. Considering the importance of the sense of sight, LASIK surgery is an incredible bargain, and that is one of the reasons it has truly become the procedure of choice for correcting certain vision problems.

It is essential that, in your search for a LASIK surgeon, you do not merely rely on articles such as this, but dig deeper.

Monica Keller
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/five-reasons-why-lasik-surgery-is-now-such-a-popular-alternative-132234.html

Lasik surgery, the procedure developed by Dr. Lucio Barretto and Dr. Ioannis Pallikaris in 1991 has come a long way. From an expensive, niche eye surgery procedure that used state of the art new technology, it has now become a niche procedure that is easily available to anyone who wants it done. The simplicity and speed with which lasik surgery can be done coupled with the high precision results makes it one of the most sought-after procedures in the world today.

While the popularity has been gaining for lasik surgery, the prices have still been on the higher side, costing more than $1,000 for the procedure to be done on a single eye. This makes it still an expensive proposition, despite the many easy payment options on offer at the different clinics providing the facility. Surgeons and researchers have been constantly working to update the technology to increase the accuracy of functioning, trying and reducing the side effects, and making it generally affordable and available to all.

One such development is the Lasik-at-home system developed by Dr. Amir Khadim, M.D., Ph.D, in 2004. A pioneer in lasik surgery with over 2,000 operations to his credit at the Bennett Eye Care Institute in New York City, Dr. Khadim developed this patented procedure to make lasik surgery as easy to perform as possible.

The USP of the Lasik-at-Home system is that you can use it to do a lasik surgery yourself, in the comfort of your home! This is a big leap over the other conventional lasik procedures, which required a visit to an eye care facility. Lasik-at-Home enables you to perform a lasik procedure yourself by taking out of the equation all the extra equipment that you are confronted with at a specialized facility.

The Lasik-at-Home consists of a hand-operated laser that takes away the necessity of other secondary equipment. It has a combination femtosecond/excimer laser called the Scal-PalTM Scanning Adjusting Laparoscopic Personal Laser. The Scal-Pal is unique to Lasik-at-Home, and is manufactured by Walton Group Manufacturing. Besides this device, the other components of the kit include a mild sedative (usually diazepam 4mg), a protective sleep mask for post-operative use, No-Blink eye drops, and also a detailed Instructions and Quick Start Guide.

This is how the Lasik at Home works. The Scal-PalTM, a combination of two lasers, as mentioned above is the key to the functioning of the Lasik at Home. The femtosecond is laser of Scal-PalTM is used to cut a small flap of the cornea. Once the corneal flap has been cut, the excimer laser is used to vaporize a portion of the lens. There is no damage to the surrounding tissue during the procedure. Your lasik surgery is done, and all it took was a few minutes of your time, at your convenience, in the comfort of your home.

With Lasik-at-Home, you can do the lasik surgery yourself in a few minutes time, in a four-step process. First, you need a quiet place that has no distractions. Once you are settled in this place, open the Lasik-at-Home kit, perform the lasik surgery as per the instructions in the Instruction Guide, and then have clear vision. However, there are few things you need to follow. Most importantly, do not blink during the procedure. Also, do not train the laser unnecessarily on the eye, or attempt to use any other laser than the one that comes with the kit.

This article is for information purposes only and the author does not make recommendations on the use of any product or procedure. As always it is important to thoroughly research any non medically approved procedure and seek the advice of a qualified medical doctor before you use such a device.

Candice Sabrina
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/do-it-yourself-lasik-surgery-you-be-the-judge-103203.html

Can everyone who has a problem with their eyesight apply to have LASIK? Clearly, LASIK has got great potential and benefits but just like with any new procedure there are risks associated.

The risk of complications or impaired eyesight after LASIK vision correction can be greatly reduced if you make an effort to establish if you are a good prospect to have LASIK surgery. Not everyone who wants their vision corrected is necessarily a good candidate to have LASIK surgery. Here are a few things to consider before you decide on LASIK:

• If you are risk averse, you probably shouldn’t have LASIK laser surgery. There are possible complications that can come about as a result of LASIK that you should consider before having the procedure done.

• Does your insurance cover LASIK vision correction? How would LASIK laser surgery or possible complications affect your career? If having this procedure would impact your life negatively you might consider another alternative.

• Although the cost of having LASIK done is getting cheaper, it is still quite expensive and you’ll want to make sure it isn’t prohibited by your employer.

• A requirement for LASIK vision correction is that you must be an adult with refractive stability. Refractive instability is common among patients who are 20 or younger with fluctuating hormones. This is caused by several conditions including diabetes, pregnancy or breastfeeding or taking medications that cause fluctuation in vision.

• People who regularly engage in contact sports or suffer from a condition or disease which may affect the healing of a wound might have to consider an alternative to the LASIK vision correction surgery.

There are a number of other situations one should discuss with your doctor prior to deciding on LASIK laser surgery. If you suffer from conditions such as herpes or shingles that affects the area around the eyes, you should disclose that information. Also, any other conditions, including glaucoma, ocular hypertension, eye diseases, eye injuries, previous eye surgeries, or keratoconus should also be discussed.

Please ask your doctor to screen you for the following conditions prior to LASIK eye surgery:

• Blepharitis

• Large pupils

• Thin corneas

• Previous refractive surgeries

• Dry eyes

Only once you have considered and cleared all of the above conditions or discussed them with a LASIK surgeon, can you determine if you are an excellent candidate for LASIK laser surgery.

Jimmy Roos
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/is-lasik-eye-surgery-for-everyone-60253.html

Have you determined if you are the right candidate for LASIK laser surgery by considering all the things that can go wrong, and looking at all the available options? If you have, and you still think it is the right thing to do, then the next logical step is to start looking for a LASIK surgeon.

Even though the risks associated with LASIK are relatively smaller than other conventional types of surgery, you should still take researching a LASIK surgeon seriously. Do your homework by compiling a set of criteria and evaluating each surgeon against this set of criteria.

Carefully consider what each LASIK surgeon regard as their procedure of choice. Do they use the traditional LASIK that uses a blade to make the incision or do they prefer “bladeless” InterLase lasers to make all the cuts. Ask them as to what they regard as the most reliable and what they mostly use.

Don’t limit your criteria to cost or experience alone, but look at what you feel most comfortable with. This decision will affect you for the rest of your life, so don’t do something to please anyone.

Be skeptical about claims such as “20/20 vision” or “your money back guarantees.” Once you vision is messed up, no amount of money may be able to restore it. Go as far as checking these doctors against the consumer affairs office or better business bureau to verify that they are in good standing. Know and understand your rights as it relates to surgery and LASIK in general.

Appreciate what can happen during the surgery and ask your potential LASIK surgeon how he/she would deal with a situation that could potentially end a procedure. Mistakes can happen which can lead to your eyes damaged permanently without even a chance to have corrective surgery.

Also ask your LASIK surgeon how he/she would handle the following situations that may come up after surgery. For example:

-the migration of the flap,

-the inflammation or infection,

-intensive eye drop treatments, or

-additional procedures that may be necessary after

the initial surgery.

There is a FDA standard that all LASIK surgeons are held to, which relates to the type of laser used during the surgery. Find out what type of laser your potential LASIK surgeon uses and compare it to the FDA’s approved list.

Jimmy Roos
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/which-lasik-surgeon-is-right-for-you-60251.html

A lot of people refuse help from lasik surgery because they are afraid of the complications and the lasik surgery risks involved. The truth about the risks is never as interesting as the fiction about them and would likely not sell as many newspapers.

Learning that a surgical procedure that is cutting edge is generally safe and produces good results is simply not “news” in comparison to having an assortment of alleged failed surgical procedures and a long list of associated lasik surgery risks. This type of publicity generates a lot of negativity towards an industry and a technological advance that is doing lots of positive good in the world.

As with anything in life, the proper preparation and the truth in information will enable you to get to the heart of the matter and solve the issue. With Lasik surgery risks, it pretty much all comes down to preparation. You can avoid any possible risks by knowing what you are getting into and by finding the best doctor for your money.

With this type of complete information, your lasik eye surgery procedure will go as planned and will provide great results that you can be proud of and be confident in. Without any preparation or information, you may be looking at a more complex case.

Discovering the Risks

The confidence in lasik surgery has increased through the years as we begin to learn more about the procedure and more about the possible lasik surgery risks. With this knowledge, we can begin to tweak the procedure and augment some of the problem areas.

As we end up developing the procedure further, we end up reducing a lot of the risk factors and becoming capable of spreading more information to clients on how to reduce these risks with preparation and information. The best way to avoid risks in lasik is to consult with your doctor about your specific case.

Serious complication risk rates in terms of Lasik surgery is now around the one percent mark. Prior to a period of extensive study, the percentage of people that encountered a form of lasik risks was around five percent or less.

With a period of extensive study came trade journals and other aspects that allowed the doctors to communicate with one another about the risks. From this communication came greater responsibility and information that backed up the industry with confidence.

More information on these risks can be found by searching on your favorite search engine. You can also call for a consultation at your local lasik center to further discuss these risks and request more information.

anonymous
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/learning-about-lasik-surgery-risks-120513.html

If you take the time to read any of the message boards or chat rooms on the Internet about Lasik surgery, you will wonder how anyone could get the courage to schedule a Lasik procedure, and why on earth they would want it. The various Lasik clinics sound anywhere from impersonal to something similar to Dr. Frankenstein’s lab, and the Lasik procedure itself sounds, well, surreal. It seems like the only people that would get Lasik are those with such bad vision that they cannot get out of bed without their glasses on.

Well, let me give you my story of how I chose Lasik. First of all, my vision is not good, but not terrible either. I can actually go to movies and see well enough to enjoy the film without glasses, but I need glasses to drive in order to read the street signs far enough away to act on the information. So for me, Lasik was not necessary, but I figured would simplify my life. I am outdoors very frequently, backpacking, climbing hills, and mountain biking. Glasses do not last long with me, and I am frequently grinding into the dirt which is not the best situation for contact lenses. For these reasons, Lasik looked very appealing.

The paragraph above might make you think I am a “manly guy” (hope so, think so!), so why on earth would I be afraid of a little Lasik scalpel? OK, technically Lasik does NOT use a scalpel but rather a “microkeratome blade”, but it is still a sharp object approaching my eye as part of the Lasik procedure. Nowadays Lasik physicians can get a laser to cut the flap in the eye, which is more than a little better than a sharp blade. But anyway, I had too many spills in my life to think any sharp object nearing my eye was a good idea, even under the skilled hands of a Lasik physician.

After talking with three (yes, three!) independent Lasik physicians, they each assured me that a 28 year old guy in nearly perfect health (OK, I exaggerate a bit) with moderate nearsightedness was one of the very best candidates for a successful Lasik procedure. I decided to schedule my Lasik procedure with the one that had the best track record, and coincidentally took the most time to explain everything about Lasik to me.

The Lasik surgery was not painful, though I accepted nearly everything they offered to give me comfort, including a sedative and a teddy bear. (I even went back to take a picture of me and the Lasik comforting teddy bear.) The only strange thing I remember about the Lasik procedure itself was a smell, something vaguely like hair burning. I suppose that was my eye. I am kind of glad they didn’t tell me to expect that before the Lasik procedure, I am not sure I would have gone in.

After a few years, I guess I was a nearly perfect Lasik client, as my eyes now have 20/20 vision and have remained stable long after the Lasik operation. I say that if you are a good candidate for a Lasik vision correction procedure, grab that teddy bear and go on in.

David Riewe
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/even-a-chicken-can-get-lasik-surgery-305721.html

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For most of us who manage daily any level of compromised vision, our world is one where eyeglasses, contact lenses, pricey prescriptions, and frequent visits to the eye doctor are standard. But as Lasik surgery technology has continued to evolve and its popularity has risen exponentially, more and more people are choosing refractive eye surgery as an alternative to glasses and contacts.

Lasik surgery involves the reshaping of the cornea – the thin, transparent tissue covering the iris – or colored section – of your eye. The lens of the eye – which sits right behind the iris refracts – or bends – light rays so that they are seen by the retina – located in the back of the eye. The retina’s job is to then take these light rays and covert them to messages that can be understood by our brain’s optic nerve.

If you understand this process then you can understand that if our eyes suffer refractive difficulties, the light is not bent properly to the retina and the image that our brain receives is blurry. When we wear eyeglasses or contact lenses, the light is brought closer to the lens or sent directly to the retina. Lasik surgery uses laser technology to reshape the cornea so that light is refracted clearly.

During a Lasik surgery procedure, the patient is normally first given anesthetic eye drops to help numb the eye and minimize discomfort after which a speculum is placed on the upper and lower eyelids to prevent blinking. The eye is then immobilized using a corneal suction ring. After the eye is immobilized, a thin incision is made in the top layer of the corneal tissue, making a very thin flap in the tissue. When the flap is folded over, the second layer of the cornea – the stroma – is revealed.

Laser power is then used to resurface this part of the cornea. Such resurfacing is done based on what specific issues are apparent in your particular eye; information that is normally gathered during pre-surgical visits. After the reshaping, the flap is repositioned over the eye; healing takes place naturally and often very quickly.

Lasik surgery is a relatively quick procedure – usually completed in less than 20 minutes for both eyes – and most patients report that it is virtually painless; while it can be mildly uncomfortable at times. While vision may be blurry for up to a day following surgery, most people report clear vision after this time.

Lasik surgery, while popular, is not for everyone. In fact, a pre-surgical examination is imperative to determine if you are a good candidate for Lasik. Surgeons who perform Lasik normally look for at least six months of prescription stability in patients – meaning that your eyeglass or contact lenses prescription has remained the same.

In addition, refractive difficulties should fall under the appropriate guidelines for Lasik correction for the best chance of success. The doctor will also want to ensure that you are in good overall health.

J. Lloyd
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/lasik-surgery-can-free-you-of-glasses-and-contact-lenses-122608.html