Wednesday 9 March 2011

Eye Correction Surgery - Overview

Eye correction surgery for refractive problems has made overwhelming advances over the last 50 years. One of the earliest methods was creating a deep incision in the cornea in order to alter its shape for corrective purpose. RK or radial keratotomy was the first eye correction surgery procedure. The concept was actually used for more than 50 years ago by Sato from the Juntendo University in Japan. Originally, it involved posterior internal incisions. However, it was not effective for all types of people and a lot of patients suffered from bulluous keratopathy after a few years.

Radial keratotomy was later then modified in order to prevent damaging the corneal tissues and this became the earliest refractive eye correction surgery. The method was perfected by Fyodorov, a Russian ophthalmologist during the 1970s and was introduced and used in the United States in1978.

Today, a lot of options have already been developed to help the minority of individuals who wear corrective eye glasses and contact lens. Refractive eye correction surgery is now offered both for cosmetic and elective purposes.

Eye correction surgery is beneficial for individuals with hyperopia (farsightedness),myopia (nearsightedness), astigmatism and maybe in the near future, presbyopia.

People with hyperopia or farsightedness have corneas that are too flat or eyes that are too short that it decreases the eyes' ability to focus clearly. People with this kind of refractive problem can clearly see distant objects but near objects may appear blurry.
Myopia is a refractive eye condition wherein the corneas are too steep or the eyes are too long that it decreases its ability to focus clearly. People with this kind of refractive problem can clearly see near object but distant objects may appear blurry.
Presbyopia is an eye condition wherein the eyes may exhibit gradual decreased ability to focus on near objects as in the case of an aging person.

The purpose of eye correction surgery is to alter the shape of the lens and/or the cornea in order to correct the focus of light at the back of the eye without the use corrective eye glasses or contact lenses.

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