The
Surgery
LASIK
operation is performed in a laser suite. You enter with your own clothes
and shoes. Each step of the procedure is explained to you before the
lasik procedure. For our really anxious patients, we have a physician
who has been trained in psychiatry and who lived in the United States
for many years. After your last questions are answered, you are asked
to sign an informed consent form. If you are having a lot of anxiety,
you are offered a capsule of Diazepam.
Patients
experience virtually no discomfort during the LASIK procedure. No
needles are used, and eye drop anesthesia is instilled directly onto
the eye prior to the procedure. Dr. EyeSTAR results indicate that,
post procedure, we have never had a patient request a prescription
for pain medication. Our patients tell us that they are so well prepared
by our clinic's staff before the procedure that any fear, anxiety
and concerns were gone!
The
LASIK operation takes about 4 to 5 minutes per eye. The actual
laser ablation time is in terms of seconds.
In the laser room your eyelids will be wiped for disinfection. Your
eyes will be covered with a special sticky drape. Then a speculum
will be installed to keep your eyes open. Your eyes will be washed
and dried a few times. You will be asked to stare into a red light.
In fact, this is all you need to do during the procedure.
We will place a special device called microkeratome on the white part
of your eye. (By the way we use the world's most reliable microkeratomes: Hansatome I-II, Moria M2, Amadeus and MK-2000). Besides many routine
checks, our surgeon also always checks its function.
(Be
aware of cheap discount eye hospitals and centers. In Turkey almost
every center recycles disposable blades for microkeratomes to lower
the costs, but EyeSTAR uses only original new blades
for each patient. Besides that, despite our warnings, many eye hospitals
still use the very same blade on their patients without changing.
This approach helps them to gain additional money and time but carries
the risk to spread diseases like hepatitis and AIDS between patients.
You can compare this to sharing a syringe. You might have heard of
the scandal about some discount laser centers in the US, doing the
same thing, caused them to be shut down. If you rely on us, don't
worry about any of these topics. Since EyeSTAR's establishment in
1999, none of our cases showed any sign of the mildest
infection. We are really serious about hygiene standards, technology
and patient comfort. If you have any doubt about coming to a developing
country such as Turkey for a high-tech surgery, we challenge any center
in your country for the results and service. If you have LASIK for
one eye let's say, at the best center in your country, and the other
at EyeSTAR Istanbul, then you will be able to appreciate us better.)
The microkeratome sticks to the white (sclera) of your eye by
vacuum. With a precise and automated high-speed rotation or
oscillation, it creates a partial thickness flap from the cornea.
Our surgeon gently folds back this flap in order to impose corneal
bed to laser treatment. Then state-of-the art Excimer laser system
reshapes the cornea according the ablation profile data. This data
is an intelligent summary of your eye exam, topography (3D profile
of corneal surfaces), pachymetry (thickness map of the cornea) and
aberrometry (map of optic aberrations of the eye). Here, at EyeSTAR,
we perform a simulation analysis according to the laser's ablation
profile. This kind of simulations, are performed only in a few
centers, and by a few refractive surgeons in the world, and EyeSTAR
doctors are the only doctors in Turkey, who currently perform laser
vision simulations in special cases. These simulations warn
the surgeon about possible side effects of the proposed laser ablation
profile. With this feedback, our surgeon manipulates the ablation
data till a satisfactory result is obtained and then the laser treatment
is applied to the patient. In simple words, the cornea gains a tested
shape to perfectly focus both near and distant objects' images.
During the laser treatment you feel no pain and all you need to do
is to stare at a red fixation light. Laser ablation time is generally
less then a minute. After the laser, our surgeon delicately repositions
the flap. Our surgeon washes the flap interface and perfectly matches
the flap edges. Then you are invited to the post-laser room. After
the explanation of your medication and a final eye-exam, you can leave
the center.
The next day we do another eye exam and a final explanation about
your medications, then, you are done.
A summary of LASIK procedure
LASIK is a quick, painless and bloodless outpatient procedure. LASIK
operation takes about 4 to 5 minutes per eye. Laser application time
is counted in terms of seconds.
1- Lasik is performed to the outermost part of the eye, the cornea.
It is reshaping of the cornea.
2- The eye is numbed with drops.
3- The middle layer of the cornea has no sensory receptors (can not
feel pain) and cannot regenerate (does not regress). A microkeratome
is used to make a partial thickness flap from cornea.
4- The flap created by microkeratome is lifted by the surgeon. (The
average flap thickness is 160 micron, meanwhile the total corneal
thickness is around 550 microns.)
5- - Excimer laser sculpts the exposed inner cornea (stroma). After
a few seconds of laser treatment, the cornea gains an ideal shape,
for a clear vision.
6- The surgeon carefully places the flap back on the cornea to its
original position.
7-The eye can see clearly with its finely reshaped cornea. After LASIK,
our patients may return home or to their hotels without covering their
eyes. They can resume their normal daily activities from the very
next day.
