Refractive eye surgery is a type of eye surgery that is used to rectify refractive errors of the eye and decrease dependency on corrective lenses such as eyeglasses and contact lenses. Successful refractive procedures can reduce myopia or nearsightedness, hyperopia or farsightedness, and astigmatism or elongated corneas. A number of different procedures exist for refractive eye surgery depending upon the type and severity of the refractive error.
There are four main types of refractive eye surgery procedures: flap and photoablation procedures; corneal incision procedures; thermal procedures; and implants. Currently, the most common refractive eye surgeries involve the use of lasers to reshape the cornea.
Flap procedures involve cutting a small flap in the cornea so that the tissue underneath can be reshaped to correct the refractive error. LASIK, short for Laser Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis, is the most popular refractive surgery and is used to correct myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. The LASIK procedure involves using a microkeratome or IntraLase to cut a flap into the stroma, moving the flap out of the way, removing excess corneal tissue with an excimer...