Nigela Newton had been wearing glasses from the age of five. When she started going to college, she switched over to contact lenses. Though, Nigela had been wearing glasses and contact lenses for several years, she still found the routine of eye checkups and maintenance of eyewear very cumbersome and boring. The whole package of consulting with a doctor and buying new eyewear regularly, turned out to be expensive in the long run.  Nigela wanted a permanent solution to fix her weak eyesight and was thinking of having corrective laser eye surgery.

Corrective laser eye surgery is a procedure that takes less than an hour and costs considerably less than a lifetime of vision correction prescriptions. If you too, like Nigela, are thinking of going ahead with laser eye surgery, then here are a few things you should know about it.

Corrective laser eye surgery can allow you to have the vision that you always wanted – most patients are able to achieve 20/20 vision after the surgery. This surgery can also be a blessing for those who suffer from conditions such as, dry eye, wherein sufferers experience itchy, burning eyes, glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration.

Corrective laser eye surgery more than just Lasik – it is a term which describes most of the corrective procedures. Lasik is one of the procedures that is part of this term andis considered to be an excimer laser procedure, through which the cornea of the eye is reshaped by laser. Lasik corrects nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.

The difference between the various excimer laser procedures is the type of laser that is used and the technique that is followed depending on which procedure is likely to bring you the most success based on the condition and the shape of your eyes.

Non- excimer laser surgery is another group that falls under corrective laser eye surgery. Such procedures involve one of three things – the insertion of permanent lenses into the eye, the reshaping of the eye using laser energy or radio waves or the actual cutting of the eye. These procedures are meant for those who experience severely compromised vision or cataracts.

Other corrective eye surgery may include more complex and comprehensive procedures such as cornea transplants during which healthy tissue from a donor eye is transplanted into the eye of someone whose own cornea has been destroyed due to injury or illness.

There is also a procedure to treat Keratoconus or bulging of the corneas. The surgeon carries out the surgery by placing plastic inserts onto the corners of the cornea to flatten them.

There are a variety of corrective eye surgery procedures. You can choose the one that you need after consulting with an eye doctor.