Using a laser for eye correction has become very popular in the last few years and is growing as you are reading right now. If you are wondering why this is so, then you have not looked at how great it would be to throw away your glasses or contact lenses and enjoy seeing life without blurred vision.

According to just how bad your nearsightedness or farsightedness is you may have problems doing anything without wearing glasses or contacts such as getting out of bed in the morning and making coffee, reading the newspaper, driving your car, or even seeing across the room. With the use of a laser, eye correction is highly possible.

There are different types of laser eye correction available, however, most are LASIK surgeries. LASIK is just the type of procedure that treats what is called refractive errors. These errors in vision are hyperopia (farsightedness), myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism. These errors cause people to have blurred vision because the errors are obstructing the focusing ability of the eye. All LASIK surgeries reshape the cornea, which improves the eye’s focusing power and enhances a person’s visual acuity. This type of surgery involves creating a flap in the tissue of the cornea, which is replaced after the tissue is reshaped.   Another type of laser eye correction surgery is PRK (photorefractive), this type of surgery is when the outer layer of the cornea is removed and then the cornea is reshaped.

The way in which the cornea is reshaped is by the use of an excimer laser that is controlled by a computer. It removes small amounts of the cornea tissue reshaping and restoring normal vision.

The laser eye correction procedure normally takes a little less than 30 minutes. Some people prefer to have both eyes done at the same time while other only have one eye done at a time. Many opt for one at a time since an eye patch or shield needs to be worn until the cornea has had time to heal.

In most cases, you will be ready to go back to work within a couple of days and your vision will improve over a few days.

It would be best to talk with your ophthalmologist to be sure that you are a good candidate for laser eye correction surgery and be sure that he has been trained in this procedure before trusting your eyesight to an untrained doctor. In the United States, there are only around 20% of all ophthalmologists that are trained in laser eye surgery techniques.