Strategies for Vision Correction
Chicago, Illinois
Are you wondering how your vision could best be corrected with the least risk possible and no pain? Ophthalmologists worried over that question for centuries before our Custom LASIK was finally devised. One problem has always been that cutting the body creates scarring, and a scar in your eye could block your vision and make things worse.
That is one reason why lasers have been such a gift to eye surgeons. They do not cut – they vaporize by breaking molecular bonds. Before LASIK became available, there was PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy), which was developed in Germany and first performed in 1988. PRK uses a laser to reshape the cornea, as LASIK does, but it requires no cutting into a corneal flap. Instead, it removes a thin layer of surface cells and allows them to regrow after the vision correction procedure is performed.
Vision Correction on the Cornea
The cornea is a second lens in each eye. It refracts (bends) incoming light, which then passes through the crystalline lens behind the iris for more refraction. In a 20/20 eye, the cornea and lens together bend the right amount of light to focus it on the retina, the eye’s “camera film.” Since the cornea is easily accessible, being the eye’s front surface, it can easily be reshaped to change light refraction and improve vision.
For myopia (nearsightedness), the cornea is treated in its center to slightly flatten its curvature. This causes it to bend light less sharply so that it will focus on the retina, instead of in front of it, and improve your far distance vision.
For hyperopia (farsightedness), the cornea is treated around its periphery to slightly steepen its curvature. This makes it bend light more sharply so that close objects will come into clear focus.
For astigmatism, the cornea is shaped more spherical instead of oval, which allows it to focus all incoming light in one spot instead of two. This improves clarity of vision at all distances.
Besides LASIK and PRK, another procedure called Conductive Keratoplasty (CK) can also improve vision by reshaping the cornea. It uses radio waves instead of a laser to give you clear, close-up vision. If you have developed “middle-aged vision” – presbyopia – it could be a good way to restore your near vision, at least for a few years, until presbyopia progresses more. At that point, you can have another CK procedure.
Vision Correction on the Lens
Another approach to presbyopia is lens replacement. The eye’s lens is suspended behind the iris in a capsule. Through a tiny incision outside your field of vision, Dr. Golden can remove it and position a replacement lens in the same capsule. There are several choices of intraocular lenses, as they are called, and all can give fairly clear vision at all distances. Lens replacement is also done as cataract surgery when age causes cloudiness in the lens. Cataracts will lead to blindness if they are not managed, but Dr. Golden can perform cataract surgery to restore your full vision.
All vision correction is highly customized. Dr. Golden is very careful to screen all his patients rigorously so as to give each one the most appropriate and precise treatment possible. For best results, he also needs you to follow his pre- and post-operative instructions to the letter. They are written for your benefit, and following them is your second contribution to your good outcome. By coming to Dr. Golden for your eye care, you have already taken the first step towards excellent results, which is choosing a fully-qualified and well-experienced eye surgeon.
To schedule your initial consultation with Dr. Golden to see how you can achieve visual freedom, please call or email our Chicago, Illinois office today.
Two Locations:
Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center
875 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1550
Chicago, IL 60611 | Doctors for Visual Freedom Laser Center
2010 S Arlington Heights Rd, Suite 121
Arlington Heights, IL 60005 |
