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Alejandro Lopez, 62, started wearing glasses when he was in his 20s in order to read the newspaper and see things in the distance, and never liked them. So in 2000, Lopez, who lives in Malverne, N.Y., opted for what was then a relatively new procedure: LASIK, laser surgery to correct vision problems. He distinctly remembers looking at the clock in the operating room before the surgery, and it was too blurry to read the numbers. When he opened his eyes afterward, the clock was suddenly crisp and clear. “It was amazing and so fast. In 10 minutes, my vision had completely changed,” he says. “I was driving and even went to work the next day.” His vision remains good nearly 20 years later.
That's the promise of LASIK: After a quick, relatively painless procedure in an eye surgeon's office, you can ditch your eyeglasses and contact lenses. Since 1995, when the FDA approved the first lasers to correct vision, about 9.5 million Americans have opted for the surgery.
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Some people experience troubling side effects, however, including severe dry eye. Here are a few things to know about the procedure.
What is LASIK?
LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) is an FDA-approved procedure to treat all three conditions that normally require glasses: nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.
Using an ultraviolet laser, surgeons reshape the curvature of the cornea, the transparent dome-like front covering of the eye that refracts light and accounts for about two-thirds of the eye's optical power. With nearsightedness (myopia), the cornea curves too sharply, which focuses light in the front of the retina and blurs distances. Conversely, with farsightedness (hyperopia), when the cornea is too flat, light focuses behind the retina, blurring near vision. With astigmatism, the cornea can be too curved or too flat, which can cloud both close up and distant objects.
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