Getting to understand the excimer laser used in lasik eye surgery

Lasik is a procedure first introduced in 1998. It is designed to help correct vision so that a person does not have to rely on eyeglasses or contacts. The word lasik stands for laser assisted in Situ Keratomileusis. The laser used is called an excimer laser. For someone who is looking into getting lasik surgery and has some worries it may help to understand more about how the laser works.

During lasik eye surgery the goal is to reshape the cornea. The cornea is the clear lens of the eye. It is responsible for taking in images and sending them to the retina where they then go on to the brain thus producing sight. In someone who has bad vision the cornea is warped so that the images sent to the retina are unclear. To correct this during lasik eye surgery first a flap is cut in the cornea and then the excimer laser is used to reshape the inner layer of the cornea. The way the excimer laser works is actually a pretty interesting process.

The laser is programmed by the surgeon or a technician to know exactly how deep to cut the cornea and how much of it to reshape. The laser actually vaporizes the areas of the cornea that need fixed through a series of pulses. The excimer laser is so precise that it can remove 0.25 microns of tissue in one pulse. To put it into laymens terms, that means it can cut a 1/200th of a human hair in 12 billionths of a second. Even more simply put, it is fast and dead on target. This laser is what is referred to as a cold laser. This means it does not generate heat which allows it to remove only the intended tissue without harming nearby tissue.

The excimer laser was developed by IBM and used for eye surgeries since 1987. It was FDA approved in 1995. Shortly thereafter in 1998 it was used for lasik procedures. Before it was used for lasik it was used for another eye procedure called PRK that was an earlier form of eye correction surgery. The excimer laser uses reactive gases that are mixed with inert gases. The laser is triggered by a computer and produces ultraviolet light. Its ability to remove corneal tissue is because the ultraviolet light is too much for the corneal tissue to handle and instead it breaks down.

Surgeons are trained to use the excimer laser. It is important that the surgeon know exactly how to program the computer controls so that the cornea is not cut too deep or too much tissue is removed. Most lasik clinics have a special technician that handles the excimer machine.

The whole process of lasik eye surgery is amazing. The excimer laser is an equally amazing tool. It is hard to understand all the exact details of how the excimer laser works, but knowing the basics can help someone who is looking into lasik surgery understand better what will actually go on during their surgery.

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