subject: Lasik For Astigmatism Treatment [print this page] Laser eye surgery is mostly known to treat myopia and hyperopia. However, these two vision impairments are not the only ones that are treatable by laser eye surgery. Astigmatism as a third form of refractive error that can also be corrected using laser treatment. Lasers used to treat astigmatism have been in occurrence since ten years ago. Nowadays, there are even subsequent lasers that have received approval for treatment of astigmatism. Exactly, LASIK surgery is usually performed to treat astigmatism. This can considerably reduce the patients need for thick and cumbersome eyeglasses or problematic contact lenses which are traditionally worn by astigmatic patients.
After ten years development, surgical astigmatism treatment is to some extent mature. In particular, LASIK to correct astigmatism has been commonplace and routine. People with over 80% degrees of astigmatism can be treated in the course of LASIK surgery. It is expected that higher degrees of astigmatism can also be corrected with the greater technological advances in the future. In general, astigmatism treatment through LASIK procedure is similar to laser eye surgeries used to correct myopia and hyperopia. The surgeon will alter and remold the shape of the cornea, which performs the majority of focusing power in the human eye.
Differently, LASIK for astigmatism will make the patients cornea more spherical, while LASIK for nearsightedness will flatten the cornea. This tells us the basic principle of astigmatism treatment using an eye surgery. In other words, the corneal surface will be more spherical after the surgery. In detail, a special pattern of laser beam will be used to remove certain corneal tissues from only one side. Such a way is aimed to make the cornea more uniform and more spherical. At the same time, this will slightly flatten the cornea, bringing a degree of myopia correction. It requires higher skills in the surgeon if the patient has irregular astigmatism. In general, LASIK for astigmatism correction is safe and keeps high success rates.
