What to Expect

BEFORE LASIK

You'll need a complete eye examination by your refractive surgeon. This comprehensive examination will require that you remove your soft contact lenses (2 weeks) or gas permeable contact lenses (3 weeks) before this examination.  You or our surgeon will also need to obtain your prescription records for this examination.  During this examination, the doctor will perform the following.

• Dilate your pupils to fine-tune your prescription.
• Examine your eyes to make sure they're healthy. This includes a glaucoma test and a retina exam.
• Ask you to sign an informed consent form after a thorough discussion of the risks, benefits, alternative options and possible complications. You will be provided a copy of the consent form to take home with you for further review and opportunity to ask questions prior to your scheduled surgery.
• Measure curvature of your cornea and the size of your pupils.
• Take topography photographs of your eyes to make sure you don't have an irregular astigmatism or keratoconus.
• Perform a pachymetry to determine the thickness of your cornea.

DURING LASIK

LASIK is an outpatient surgical procedure. The only anesthetic used to perform LASIK is an eye drop that numbs the surface of the eye. The surgery takes 10 to15 minutes for each eye. Sometimes, both eyes are done during the same procedure; but sometimes, surgeons wait to see the result of the first eye before doing the second eye.

The Surgical Procedure: A special device (either a microkeratome with a blade or, at Talamo Laser Eye Consultants, the Intralase femtosecond laser) creates a hinged flap of thin corneal tissue off the outer layer of the eyeball (cornea).  After the hinged flap has been created, the ALLEGRETTO WAVE Eye-Q laser reshapes the underlying corneal tissue (for a more detailed description of the advanced technology used at Talamo Laser Eye Consultants, see our section on Custom LASIK).  The surgeon repositions the laser created hinged flap, which quickly adheres to the eyeball. There are no stitches. A shield - either clear plastic or perforated metal - is placed over the eye to protect the eye(s) post-LASIK treatment.

AFTER LASIK

Healing is relatively fast, but you may want to take a few days off after the surgery. You should be aware of the following:

• Pain after LASIK surgery is almost always minimal.  You may experience a mild burning or sensation for a few hours after surgery. Do not rub your eye(s).
• Your vision probably will be blurry the day of surgery, but it will improve considerably by the next day when you return for a follow-up exam.
• If you experience aggravating or unusual side effects, report them to your surgeon immediately.
• Do not drive until your vision has improved enough to safely do so.
• Avoid swimming, hot tubs and whirlpools for two weeks after surgery.