While vision loss of varying degrees is very common – and is caused by a variety of factors – surgery can now be used to correct many of these problems. But at the same time, you need to be careful when dealing with your eyes and vision, so be sure to consult an ophthalmologist before making any decisions.

LASIK

LASIK – which is the most common type – is refractive eye surgery to treat a range of vision problems, including:

• Myopia (Near-sightedness(
• Hyperopia (farsightedness)
• Astigmatism (irregularly shaped surface of the eye)
• However, this procedure cannot reverse age-related television (presbyopia). But, if a person with presbyopia wants to undergo LASIK, they can opt for a modified version of the surgery called “monovision,” in which one eye is corrected for distance, and the other for seeing nearby objects.

Standard LASIK

• Standard LASIK is an outpatient surgical procedure that uses an ultraviolet laser to remove a thin layer of cornea, reshaping it in the process, allowing light rays to focus more clearly on the retina.
• The procedure is performed using anesthetic eye drops while the patient is awake, and it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to perform it on each eye. 2 Although not all patients have 20/20 vision after LASIK, 95% of people report being satisfied with it. Outcome 1

Custom LASIK

• Customized LASIK – also referred to as “wave LASIK” – uses a more advanced type of laser to obtain a three-dimensional image of a patient’s eye. The aim then is to use that image to make sure that the corrections made to the patient’s cornea are as accurate as possible.
• Lasers are used in more than just refractive surgery.
• Laser surgery and refractive surgery are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing.
• Refractive surgery is the general term for surgical procedures to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
• LASIK is a type of refractive surgery that uses lasers, but lasers are used in many other types of surgeries as well. Similarly, there are methods of performing refractive surgery that do not involve lasers.

Overview of LASIK eye surgeryPRK

• Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) is another type of laser surgery used to correct mild myopia, farsightedness, and astigmatism.
• Like LASIK, the procedure involves the use of ultraviolet light to reshape the cornea. The difference is that in PRK, the laser reshapes the surface of the cornea while LASIK reshapes the cornea under the flap.
• Nearly 90% of people who had PRK reported having 20/40 vision or better without glasses or contact lenses.

Cataract surgery

• When a person’s eye lens becomes cloudy, it is likely caused by cataracts. Surgery is often required to treat cataracts.
• Cataract surgery involves removing the blurry lens of the eye (located at the front of the eye) and replacing it with a clear artificial lens.
• Nearly 90% of people report experiencing improved vision after cataract surgery, although this does not mean that a person’s vision is completely restored. Many people still have to wear glasses or contact lenses after the procedure

Overview of cataract surgery

• The use of anesthesia in eye surgery
• Since there are several different types of eye surgeries – with varying degrees of surgical intervention – different types of anesthesia are used.
• Any eye surgery performed on children usually uses general anesthesia (when the entire body is placed in medical “sleep”).
• For adults, it really depends on what the procedure entails. For example, while some cataract surgeries can be performed under local or local anesthesia, others require that the patient receive general anesthesia.

Glaucoma surgery

• If someone has glaucoma, and medications or laser treatments do not help, the doctor may recommend surgery. While glaucoma surgery does not cure glaucoma or nullify any vision loss, it can at least stop a person’s glaucoma from worsening and help lower the pressure in their eye(s). If the patient needs glaucoma surgery in both eyes, the doctor will perform each procedure individually.

There are three main types of glaucoma surgery:

• Trabectome
  This surgical procedure – commonly used to treat open-angle glaucoma – involves the surgeon making a small opening in the upper part of the eye (under the eyelid, so it is well hidden). The incision allows excess fluid to drain into the patient’s eye, reducing the pressure in his eye.

Although it is performed in the hospital, the outpatient procedure usually takes less than an hour.

• Glaucoma transplant surgery
• Used to treat
• Congenital glaucoma
• Vascular glaucoma
• Glaucoma caused by an injury
  This outpatient procedure takes one to two hours and involves the surgeon implanting a small tube into the white part of the eye to allow excess fluid to drain out of the eye, lowering the intraocular pressure.

Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS)

There are several different types of MIGS, although they all use equipment with microscopic size and small cracks. While this may mean that the patient recovers more quickly after surgery, it may also mean that surgery is not as effective as those that use traditional methods.

In general, glaucoma surgery is usually 70 to 90% effective in older patients

Macular degeneration surgery

• There are two types of macular degeneration: dry and wet. Approximately 80% of people with macular degeneration have the dry type, which unfortunately has no effective treatments at present. But 20% of people with wet macular degeneration — the most severe type — include treatment options for injections or laser surgery.
• During laser surgery, the doctor shines a laser light beam on the abnormal blood vessels in the patient’s eye, which reduces the number of vessels and slows their leakage.
• While the specific success rate for this procedure is not available, a 2015 study showed that in some cases, laser surgery limits the development of macular degeneration.

Corneal surgery

• While some corneal problems can be repaired with LASIK or other procedures, in some cases, the front and inner layers of the cornea are damaged, which means they need a corneal transplant. This is called penetrating keratoplasty (PK), or full-thickness corneal transplantation.
• This involves removing the diseased or damaged cornea from the patient, and then stitching a clear donor cornea in place
• Due to factors such as possible rejection of the donor’s cornea, the success rate of PK varies greatly, so it is best for the patient to discuss his specific situation with his doctor.

Diabetic retinopathy surgery

People with diabetes may be diagnosed with an eye disease called diabetic retinopathy. This condition — which can cause vision loss — occurs when high blood sugar levels damage the blood vessels in the retina. While there are some non-surgical options for diabetic retinopathy (such as medications), two types of surgery are used to treat the condition:

Laser surgery:

Used to help shrink or close leaky blood vessels, reducing retinal swelling. In some cases, more than one treatment is needed.

Vitrectomy:

A surgical procedure that involves removing vitreous gel and blood from leaking blood vessels at the back of the eye, allowing light rays to focus properly on the retina again. It may also involve removing scar tissue from the retina.
While the results of surgeries vary depending on how damaged the patient’s eye is, between 75 to 98% of patients report a significant improvement in their visual activity after recovering from the procedures.

Vitreoretinal surgery

In addition to the treatment of diabetic retinopathy, vitreoretinal surgery may also be used for the following conditions:

• Eye floaters and flashes
• Macular degeneration
• Macular (Spot (holes
• Retinal rupture or detachment
• Retinitis pigmentosa
• Retinal vein occlusion
• Retinopathy from premature birth
• Retinoblastoma
  There are a few different procedures that are considered vitreoretinal surgery, although they usually involve the surgeon making three small incisions in the patient’s eye and using them to make any necessary adjustments in the eye.

Again, since there are different procedures considered vitreoretinal surgeries, the success rates depend on the procedure – although they usually range from 90 to 98%.

Eye muscle surgery

• Eye muscle surgery is used to correct eye muscle problems that cause strabismus (also known as cross eyes). Although most often performed on children, eye muscle surgery can be performed on adults as well.
• The procedure involves the surgeon making a small incision in the transparent tissue that covers the whites of the eye called the conjunctiva.

• From there, the surgeon will determine which eye muscles require surgery, and then either strengthen or weaken the muscles, depending on the patient’s specific needs. The earlier you perform eye muscle surgery, the more effective it will be

• Approximately 10 to 20% of adult patients return for follow-up surgery to fix any remaining eye alignment problems

A Word From Ibsar center

• It’s perfectly normal to feel stressed before any type of surgery – especially one involving your eyes. If the risks of the procedure outweigh its benefits, the doctor will not have put it as an option in the first place.
• On the day of surgery, make yourself as comfortable as possible. This can include wearing loose or soft clothing (you’ll likely wear a dress, but you may also travel to and from the hospital comfortably) or bringing a trusted friend with you (you’ll also need to bring you home).