Having glasses and contacts can be a major hassle. Going to an optometrist to get a new eye prescription can be timely, take you away from work, and be pricy when it comes to your new frames or lenses. Your glasses may break at an inconvenient time, or you may forget to take your contact lenses out before bed, leading to eye irritation the next day. You may feel frustrated thinking you’ll have to deal with this forever, but luckily, LASIK, or laser assisted in situ keratomileusis, may be just what you need.

What is LASIK?

LASIK is an extremely common refractive surgery that remedies many vision issues including nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism which could mean no more glasses and contacts! Since it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999, eye surgeons around the country have performed the procedure around 20 million times. Arena Eye Surgeons’ refractive surgery specialists, Dr. Kelley and Dr. Shah, have performed countless LASIK procedures at The Eye Center of Columbus.

How does it work?

The LASIK procedure works by using lasers or a small blade to create a tiny flap in the cornea. After this flap is raised, your surgeon will use a different kind of laser to reshape the cornea itself and afterwards, they will lower the flap again. Most LASIK procedures are completed within 30 minutes. Once the surgery is complete and you head home, it is often recommended to take a nap for a few hours. After this nap, you will most likely wake up to improved vision without correction from your glasses or contacts!

After your LASIK procedure, Dr. Kelley or Dr. Shah will give you steps to follow to ensure all goes well with your recovery. For example, they will advise you to avoid swimming, rubbing your eyes, or wearing eye makeup for a certain amount of time after the procedure. You will also receive eye drops to use to prevent infection. Downtime is minimal after LASIK, but it is important to ensure you keep the eye healthy during its recovery. You might experience mild itching, burning, or redness in the eyes after the procedure, but these are common occurrences and should not last long. If you have any concerns post-surgery, we offer a 24-hour emergency support line to patients.

Ready to get rid of your glasses and contacts?

Give our office a call today to schedule your free LASIK consultation with our board-certified ophthalmologists who are specially trained in refractive surgeries. Glasses, contacts, and the inconveniences that come with them could be a thing of the past with refractive surgeries such as LASIK!