When you have astigmatism, it means that the curvature of the cornea or the lens of your eyes are uneven.
The symptom is that your vision is blurry at best.
But do not worry because the majority of people with this refractive problem can be treated with contact lenses.
If not, refractive eye surgery, in the form of either Lasek, photorefractive keratectomy or Lasik, will get the job done.
Bare in mind that these array of technology is not meant for astigmatism alone.
They can be used for other refractive eye problems.
I am going to give you some information about these three types of surgery.
Lasik surgery is popular, no doubt about that.
Surgery here involved the use of microkeratome in order to make a small and thin incision in the outer layer of the cornea.
Once the incision is made, the epithelial flap will be lifted somewhat so that the surgeon can gain access to the middle layer of the cornea.
Once access is achieved, an excimer laser is called upon to "smoothen" the cornea.
After that, the flap is replaced and then covered with a contact lens.
That's it! LASEK surgery, on the other hand, are used when the cornea is too steep or too thin for Lasik.
Unlike Lasik, the epithelial layer of the cornea is preserved,The surgeon will cut the epithelium with a blade and then use diluted alcohol to loosen the edges.
Later, a tiny hoe is used to fold back the epithelial layer and then an excimer laser is used to reshape the cornea.
The flap is then put back in place, and that's basically it.
A key draw back of Lasek is that healing time is longer when compared with a Lasik procedure.
Photorefractive keratectomy involves removing the outer layer of the cornea and then reshape the cornea with an excimer laser.
Healing time is also relatively quite lengthy.