Refractive Eye Surgery at Messidor Eye Center

Refractive eye surgery, or vision correction surgery, are surgical procedures used to fix or improve the refractive state of the eye. It is a simple and safe alternative to glasses or contact lenses. There are various methods of this surgery, including surgical remodeling of the cornea, lens implantation, or lens replacement. Today, the most common method is using excimer lasers to reshape the curvature of the cornea. The cornea is the clear front part of the eye that lets light travel through and focus properly on your retina. Most of the refractive eye surgery can treat a range of very common vision problems, such as nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), as well as astigmatism. 

Refractive eye surgery is not for everyone. In general, this procedure is appropriate for people with a moderate degree of refractive error and no unusual vision problems. The best candidate for this procedure is people who are at least 18 years of age and not pregnant or nursing. You should also make sure that you have a stable vision over the past year and have no history of active corneal disease or significant medical problems (such as corneal ulcers, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma). In some cases, a number of patients will still need to wear sunglasses in certain situations, for example when driving at night. To decide if this procedure is right for you and to determine which technique is most suitable for your condition, your eye surgeon will ask you detailed questions. 

There are some cases in which refractive eye surgery is performed on children, usually on children who are cognitive or visual development is failing due to refractive error. Some examples where children will need refractive eye surgery are a bilateral high refractive error, anisometric amblyopia, anisometropia, or accommodative esotropia. However, refractive eye surgery for children involves other risks than for adults.