Medical Treatment Of Eye Defects And Advances That Have Contributed To Making The Procedure Less Dangerous And Less Difficult

The treatment of eye complaints and problems has developed massively over the last half a century. Treatment for difficulties such as short-sightedness and long-sightedness used to be treated by the prescribing of corrective glasses, and more recently by contact lenses. But behind the scenes, science has moved on and surgery has become more and more prevalent as a treatment.

To begin with, eye surgery was undertaken using traditional surgical paraphernalia such as knives (albeit very delicate ones!), but blatantly using a metal knife on such a delicate area as an eye carries with it a large amount of risk, and eye experts began to investigate other ways of undertaking corrective surgery which reduced the risk to the patient.

Through such research and experimentation during the 1970’s and 1980’s, the idea of Laser eye surgery was born, and now, very often, patients are steered towards this alternative treatment for common eye complaints in preference to corrective lenses of some description.

For anybody who is suffering with their vision, it is essential to go and see an optician (also referred to as an optometrist), who can complete the usual sight tests to identify the nature of the problem. For straightforward problems, or where the patient just requires an amended prescription for, say reading glasses, the optician will provide the treatment himself (or herself). Other conditions may need medication or other treatment by a GP. But cases of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism can all be referred to an ophthalmologist with a view to the patient undergoing Laser eye treatment. An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor who is fully trained in the care and treatment of all health matters relating to the eyes, including Laser eye surgery for the previously mentioned problems.

These three problems all involve the cornea (the front part of the eye) not functioning correctly to properly process the light that reaches it which therefore causes the view that the patient sees to be unclear when they reach the retina (the back of the eye). Myopia is also known as short-sightedness, which means that things which are far away appear to be blurred. Hyperopia is the reverse of myopia, causing objects in close proximity to the eye to become out of focus, and astigmatism is caused by a slightly misshapen cornea, which means the whole world is blurred.

The collective medical name for treatment of these problems is Refractive Surgery, which refers to the fact that somehow – whether it be traditional surgery or Laser eye treatment - the patient’s optical measurement or eye shape will be amended to improve their vision. To explain; ‘refraction’ in this instance describes the way that light distorts as it reaches the eye, and consequently changes speed and direction. By using Laser eye surgery to change the shape of the cornea, an ophthalmologist can confirm that the light reaching the eye does so at the correct angle so that the thing being viewed is no longer out of focus and can be seen quite clearly by the patient.

As previously stated, the most obvious benefit of carrying out these procedures by Laser eye treatment is the much smaller risk to the patient. There is no necessity for a general anaesthetic in order to complete the surgery, and the laser itself simply vaporises the cells that need removing, meaning there is no risk of cuts or burns to the eye. Also, patient recovery times are far quicker because of the less invasive type of treatment.

Of course, there will always be a degree of risk attached to any sort of surgery, and the patient will always be told of the risks before the process is confirmed, but there can be no doubt that Laser eye surgery is a very successful and popular addition to the selection of optical treatments available.