What is LASEK eye surgery?

Laser epithelial keratomileusis, or more commonly, LASEK is like the other vision correction surgeries. This eye surgery is a kind of surgery which has the advantages of two popular operations, LASIK and PRK. Despite the fact that LASIK surgery is a very famous eye correction surgery, but for the patients who do not have the appropriate condition for LASIK, LASEK and PRK would be a better choice with a better result.

You may ask that what this surgery is performed for. The answer is that, it is a treatment for astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness. The point is that in this surgery you will not experience corneal flap complications and in addition in this surgery, dry eye would happen less often than the LASIK eye surgery. There are some differences in how the laser treatment is done in PRK, LASIK and LASEK.

Difference between three eye correction surgeries

• In PRK surgery procedure, the doctor cuts entirely the very thin outer layer of the cornea by a tool. The correction process is done and the corneal layer heals itself.
• In LASIK surgery the surgeon would make a circular incision on the eye’s surface by a tool or laser and fold the layer, then the cornea will be reshaped and at the end that ply would be returned back to its place. This layer would act like a bandage heals within hours.
• But LASEK procedure is somehow a combination of both. In this surgery the very thin corneal layer (epithelium) is cut from its bottom layer same as what happens in PRK, but not entirely separated. The doctor would ply the layer, finish the treatment and put the layer back to its position. Another difference is that after repositioning of the corneal layer, a type of lens which is called bandage contact lens, is put on the eye for better healing.

Are you a good candidate for LASEK surgery?

Specialists recommend this eye surgery for patients who have very thin corneas because it is so difficult to make a suitable flap on the cornea. Another reason that your doctor may imply for this surgery is that if you have some special activities like sports (martial arts) which can put your eyes in risk of harm, the mentioned method is a better choice for you. Specialists suggest LASEK even for the dry eye patients, since in this operation the corneal nerves that reflex for tearing would not be cut.

Complications and disadvantages

There is a low possibility of complications and side effects in LASEK than LASIK. You may experience some complications such as:

• You may feel that something is in your eye for a few days
• Poor night vision
• Experiencing dry eyes
• Halos and blurry vision
• Eye infection can also happen

Your eye would recover in a longer time than LASIK surgery. You should notice that sometimes LASEK eye surgery has more pain than LASIK but less than PRK. There is also a chance that the epithelial flap get separated entirely because of its weakness to be replaced over the intended place.