Preparation

• You will sit in a comfortable recliner in the doctors office. Your doctor may give you medication to relax. Then she will place numbing drops into the eye. Your eyelid will be held open by an instrument called a lid speculum. A ring that creates suction around the cornea will be placed on your eye. The other eye will be covered with a patch.
  
  

An Incision is Made in the Cornea

• You will be asked to focus on a light to help keep the eye still and focused. Next, your doctor will make an incision in the cornea and create a corneal flap. This flap is lifted back, exposing the corneal tissue. The suction ring will be removed at this point. This step takes about 30 seconds.
  
  

Reshaping the Cornea

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  A laser is used to remove enough tissue from the cornea to correct its refractive properties. After the right amount of tissue is removed, the laser will reshape the cornea. This process takes approximately 15 seconds per eye.
  
  

Closing the Surgery

• After the cornea is reshaped the flap is replaced. A shield is placed over the eye to help protect it while it is healing. The eye is left to heal on its own. You will go home the same day.
  
  You will go back to see the doctor within one to two days for a checkup, and then periodically for another six months.