How exactly does laser eye surgery free me from my glasses or contact lenses?

Tim Harwood February 23, 2011

Just about everyone has heard of laser eye surgery and most people who wear glasses or contact lenses have probably consider having it done but do you actually know exactly how it corrects your eye sight? In order to explain this It first helps to explain exactly why our vision is blurred in the first place and this can be seen below

* Perfect vision: If you have perfect vision then this means that when you are focussing on an object, the light entering your eye relating to that object is focussed precisely onto the retina at the back of your eye. If the light is focussed either in front or behind your retina then your vision will be blurred.

* Long sightedness: If you are long sighted then the light corresponding to the object you are looking at will fall behind the retina and hence your vision will be blurred. Glasses are needed to refocus this light from behind the retina so that it falls onto your retina, to give you perfect vision.

* Short sightedness: If you are short sighted then the light corresponding to the object you are looking at will fall infront of the retina and hence your vision will be blurred. Glasses are needed to refocus this light from in front of the retina so that it falls onto your retina to give you perfect vision.

How does laser eye surgery correct the vision?

The aim of laser eye surgery is to permanently refocus the light entering your eye to improve your vision. The laser effectively re-shapes your cornea which is the outer focusing component of your eye so that it eliminates the blurred vision. It shapes it differently depending on whether you are long sighted or short sighted:

*Long sighted: If you are long sighted the laser makes your cornea more curved which increases the power of your eye and changes the focus of the light so that it no longer focuses behind your retina.

* Short sighted: If you are short sighted the laser makes your cornea less curved which reduces the power and changes the focus of the light so that it no longer focuses in front of your retina.

It really is as simple as this and the vast majority will have perfect vision for life. Laser eye surgery has advanced significantly over the past 5 years and is now extremely accurate at reshaping the eye to give excellent visual correction. Laser eye surgery risks are now extremely low and the procedure is considered extremely safe.

BIO:

Tim Harwood is an optician with over 8 years experience and has worked both in the UK and Australia. His also writes the content for his website Treatmentsaver which specialises in laser eye surgery cost and laser eye surgery forums.