What Happens in a LASIK Procedure?

LASIK Surgery Expectations

Millions of patients have benefited from LASIK, but most people are not quite sure what happens in a LASIK procedure.  If you’re considering LASIK, then this summary should answer your questions!

Before the procedure, the patient will be given a mild oral sedative. This allows communication with the surgeon throughout the surgery. An antibiotic eye drop and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory eye drop will be administered in the clinical part of the office. Then, when the patient is situated in the surgical prep chair, numbing drops will be put in the eye. While they begin to work, the area around the eye will be disinfected, and the patient will be escorted to the laser chair and shown a blinking red light, on which he will focus throughout the procedure. Blinking is not an issue, because an eyelid retractor will be placed between the eyelids to keep them open.

A suction ring holds the eye in position and maintains pressure while the surgeon creates the corneal flap, which is about thirty percent as thick as the entire cornea. While it is being made, the lights will go out, and some patients report feeling slight pressure. Vision will become blurry, and it is at this point that the patient will be asked to look at the red flashing light, which will move, become a blur, or disappear. The patient’s job during the surgery will be to focus on the fixation light because that will help the surgeon’s accuracy.

During this time, the surgeon will perform something called ablation, which is the vaporization of minute amounts of cells that are impeding vision. There is no pain during the process, though patients may smell a faint odor and hear a clicking sound. This part of the surgery only takes between twenty and ninety seconds. When it is complete, the corneal flap is placed back into position, and the eye forms a natural vacuum to hold it in place. Some patients are sent home with a bandage contact lens, but it is not required.

The most important thing a patient can do, when considering LASIK, is to find a surgeon who is competent and experienced. Dallas LASIK surgeon Dr. Tylock not only has twenty years of experience in the field of laser vision correction, he was instrumental in the development of some of the tools used in the procedure. It is that kind of expertise that has made him the choice of over eleven thousand patients for their LASIK procedures.