Considering LASIK? Expect your stay at the laser eye surgery center to be approximately 2 hours. However, the actual laser treatment might take only about 7 to 10 minutes per eye. Though quite complex a procedure, its expedited nature renders it a simplistic feel, at least superficially. LASIK is a relatively painless procedure as opposed to other surgical techniques.
Even though its a surgery, LASIK is performed with the patient awake and functional. However, the eye surgeon typically administers a mild sedative (for instance Valium) and anesthetic eye drops. The complete 7 to 10 minute process can be broken down into two major steps. The initial step involves the creation of a flap of corneal tissue. This is accomplished with a microkeratome (a surgical blade), or a femtosecond laser. A hinge is left at one end of the flap and the flap is folded back to reveal the stroma (the middle section of the cornea).
The second step of the procedure employs a high precision laser, an excimer laser, to reshape the cornea. The excimer laser is a cool laser, that is, it achieves precise ablation without heating or damaging the surrounding tissue. After carving the cornea in...