What Is Lasik Surgery?
LASIK is the acronym for Laser-Assisted in Situ-Incision Keratomileusis. It is a type of refractive surgery used for vision correction. It is one of the effective, safe, and popular laser-based refractive surgeries. LASIK is carried out as an alternative for glasses and contact lenses. It permanently changes the changing the shape of the cornea. It helps in treating Near-sightedness, Farsightedness, and astigmatism eye defects. When the eye does not refract (bends) the light correctly, it leads to blurry vision.

Why Is Lasik Eye Surgery Performed?
LASIK surgery is carried out to correct the following eye disorders:

Near-sightedness: It is also known as MYOPIA. It occurs when the eye focuses the light in front of the retina. As a result, the far objects appear blurry, whereas nearby objects can be seen properly without any hassle. LASIK can be used when near-sightedness is up to the range of -1 dioptres
Farsightedness: It is commonly known as HYPERMETROPIA. It occurs when the eye focuses the light behind the retina instead of on it. As a result, the nearby objects appear blurry and unclear, and things far away can be seen clearly. LASIK can treat farsightedness up to the range of +6 dioptres
Astigmatism: It occurs when the focus of both near and far vision is affected.
Is There Some Eligibility Criteria One Needs To Meet To Get Lasik Done?
There are specific criteria which are needed to be met to get LASIK done. LASIK is not for everyone. Your doctor must be transparent and honest with you. Several conditions are taken into consideration while deciding the eligibility. Some of the points which determine the eligibility for LASIK are:

A person must be 18 years or above.
Should not be suffering from autoimmune diseases like HIVs, AIDS, Rheumatoid arthritis
Have stable vision
Should have an appropriate corneal thickness for surgery
Should have no history of any eye disease, scarring, or infection
The farsightedness is not age affected
Should not be pregnant or nursing
How Is Lasik Eye Surgery Performed?
LASIK is a two steps process. It takes almost 25-30 minutes to complete. In LASIK, the laser remains in contact with the cornea of the eye for 60 seconds. First, the doctor administers the anaesthetic eye drops in the eye to numb the eyes. Then the doctor places an eyelid to prevent it from blinking. The surgeon guides the femtosecond laser to create a thin “circular flap” on the cornea. The flap is then folded back. It allows the surgeon to access the stoma (underlying cornea). Later, using the computer-guided laser, the surgeon injects a beam of ultraviolet light to remove the small part of the cornea. It is done to reshape the cornea. Once done, the light is refracted accurately on the retina. Then optic nerves transmit the message to the brain to convert it into a clear image. Without proper optic nerve functioning, the image produced is unclear and blurry.

Are There Any Risks Or Side Effects Associated With The Process?
LASIK is an advanced technology with a high success and patient satisfaction rate. However, all surgeries have some or other risks associated with them. However, the risks associated with LASIK are generally mild. As per the reports, only 1% of patients are seen to have a complication. These were are also temporary ones and improved with time.

The significant risk associated with LASIK is flap complications which are flap wrinkling, flap breaking, displacing from its position, or debris trapped under the flap.

Some side effects associated with LASIK are:

Mild pain
Watery eyes or dry eyes
Blurry or hazy vision
Itching or burning in the eye
The white part of eyes may look bloodshot and red for some days
Sensitivity to light, glare, and haloes surrounding lights
The doctor may prescribe some eye drops for the side effects. Kindly take the eye drops prescribed as directed. These are common with LASIK and will go away within a week.

What Results Can You Expect After Lasik?
You may experience ocular discomfort few hours after the surgery. The doctor may also provide eye drops to relieve the symptoms and reduce the risk of infection. You may expect a significant improvement in the vision the next day after the surgery. An experienced eye surgeon performs the surgery. It has a high patient satisfaction rate. The results have been so wonderful that many people don’t consider the second LASIK. As per the latest report, more than 90% of patients have achieved perfect vision. It is important that to obtain the maximum benefit and perfect vision after LASIK eye surgery, you should strictly follow all the recommendations of your eye surgeon.

Introduction

The LASIK procedure is a safe and effective eye procedure. It corrects nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Every year, lakhs of people throughout the world get rid of glasses and contact lenses through the LASIK procedure.

What Are The Advantages Of Lasik?
LASIK is an advanced technology procedure. It offers several advantages to the patients. Some of them are:

Safe and effective: LASIK is a highly safe procedure. Every year millions of people undergo the LASIK procedure. Overall satisfaction is in over 95% of the patients who had undergone the LASIK procedure. It is also a highly effective procedure and provides immediate results.

Improved vision: More than 95% of the patients achieve vision correction through LASIK. It will improve the confidence and overall quality of life.

Long-lasting: The results of the LASIK procedure are permanent. The patient may only require the surgery if the improvement of the vision is not satisfactory or the eyesight is considerable changes with age.

Use of contact lenses and glasses avoided: After LASIK surgery, the person does not require any contact lenses or glasses. Thus, there is no need to care for the contact lens and glasses and remembering to carry the extra pair.

Quick recovery time: LASIK surgery is a highly advanced surgery, and there are no stitches or bandages involves. In most cases, a person can resume normal activities within a day after surgery. However, due care should be taken if the person has to work in an environment with dust. Seek more information from your doctor about the resumption of the job.

Painless procedure: LASIK surgery is relatively a painless procedure. However, the person may experience discomfort during and after the procedure. It can be managed through medications.

Cost-effective: Although the cost of LASIK surgery is more as compared to glasses and contact lenses; however, in the long run, the procedure is cost-effective.

Is Lasik A Safe Procedure?
LASIK is a safe procedure. Although people believe that LASIK is a new procedure. But in reality, it was approved by the United States regulatory authority more than 20 years ago. The procedure has an over 95% satisfaction rate which is quite high in the case of elective or compulsory surgeries. For the last two decades, the LASIK procedure has been done in millions of patients. Further, it corrects nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. With LASIK surgery, patients can see, enjoy their life, and importantly, got rid of their contact lenses and glasses.

Are You A Good Candidate For The Lasik Procedure?
Although LASIK is highly safe and effective surgery, not all people with eye problems are eligible for undergoing this procedure. Your doctor will comprehensively examine your eyes to determine your candidature for the LASIK procedure. Some of the qualifications for LASIK surgery are:

You should have a stable prescription for at least 12 months.
You should be 18 years of age.
Not strong prescription (-12 nearsightedness and +6D farsightedness)
You should have a thick cornea, and your pupil should also be big enough.
You should be otherwise healthy and should not be suffering from any autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or Sjogren’s disease.
What Should You Know About The Lasik From Your Eye Specialist?
You should seek information about the procedure, the duration of surgery, and the recovery period from your eye specialist. Further, you may also seek consultation about your candidature and the cost involved. You may also seek information about the side effects and long-term effects of LASIK surgery. Further, you can ask the eye specialist about the revision surgery or surgery required in old age. You must get as much information as you can to avoid any surprising facts or circumstances.

What Are The Various Measures For Reducing The Side Effects Of The Lasik Procedure?
Like other surgical procedures, you may also experience side effects and complications from LASIK surgery. You must follow all the instructions given by your doctor. During recovery, there is a healing of the corneal flap. Thus, you must avoid any activity during your recovery period that adversely affects flap healing. Thus, you must avoid contact sports and rubbing your eyes. Further, avoid contact of eyes with water as it may result in infection. Also, never miss a scheduled follow-up visit.

How Can I Choose The Best Lasik Surgeon?
Several factors may help in choosing the best LASIK surgeon. You should look for a surgeon with extensive experience in performing LASIK surgery. It would be better if you could identify the experience of the surgeon, specifically in your type of disease. You may also consult with the surgeon to know more about the types of surgeries he is performing and other details. Further, you may also take the guidance of family members, relatives, friends, and colleagues who have undergone LASIK surgery.

Introduction
ReLEx SMILE and Lasik surgery are effective methods for correcting the eyesight. Both procedures allow the patients to get rid of glasses and contact lenses. There are certain differences between these procedures.

Lasik Eye Surgery
Lasik eye surgery is one of the preferred surgical interventions for treating myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. Lasik stands for Laser-Assisted In-situ Keratomileusis. The Lasik eye surgery is safe and effective in managing the eyesight. The surgery lasts for 15-20 minutes, and the patient needs a day to stabilize after the surgery. During the Lasik eye surgery, the doctor creates and lifts a corneal flap, reshapes the corneal tissue, and put the flap back into its original position. Lasik does not cause pain in the eye, and the patient experiences vision correction immediately after the surgery. With sufficient post-operative care, post-operative complications are quite rare.

RELEX SMILE
ReLEx SMILE is a minimally invasive eye surgery to correct myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. It is a flapless procedure. ReLEx SMILE stands for Refractive Lenticule Extraction and Small incision lenticule extraction. It is the most recent, advanced, and novel surgery for vision correction. Carl Zeiss Meditec had developed this procedure. The SMILE was previously called Femtosecond lenticular extraction. The surgery is bladeless and stitch-less, and the patient does not experience any pain. It makes use of the femtosecond laser to prepare a 3D map of the eye tissues. This increases the accuracy, safety, and outcome of the procedure.

Difference Between LASIK AND RELEX SMILE
Lasik Eye surgery is currently the trending option for correcting vision problems, while ReLEx SMILE is a novel and advanced procedure. There are differences between both procedures. Some of these differences are:

Procedural difference: Both ReLEx SMILE and Lasik consists of two steps. However, there are certain basic procedural differences. The degree of incision in Lasik is 270 degrees, while in ReLEx SMILE, it is 90 degrees. Lasik comprises creating and lifting the flap on the upper surface of the cornea and reshaping the tissues of the lower layer. The surgeons create a flap because it is highly uncomfortable for the patient if the surgery is done on the first layer due to its high sensitivity. The surgeon reshapes the cornea with the help of an excimer laser.

Unlike a flap formation in Lasik surgery, the ReLEx SMILE comprises the creation of an intrastromal lenticule. For creating the lenticule, the doctor makes two cuts, i.e., posterior refractive cut and anterior cap cut. To get access to this lenticule, the doctor creates a small opening. In the next step, the doctor reshapes the cornea by dissecting and removing the lenticule. ReLEx SMILE provides excellent outcomes due to the use of the wavefront-optimization technique.

Different types of Laser: There is a difference in the type of laser used in ReLEx SMILE and Lasik surgery. ReLEx SMILE only uses a femtosecond laser by Carl Zeiss Meditec, which provides a highly detailed eye mapping. Lasik uses various types of excimer laser or the microkeratome. In some cases, the doctors may also use a femtosecond laser in Lasik.

Recovery time: Recovery time for Lasik and ReLEx SMILE is different for different activities. As the ReLEx SMILE has no cuts and there is no flap formation, the patients with this surgery resume normal activities such as swimming or playing outdoor games within 1-2 days after the procedure. Patient with Lasik surgery requires at least 15 days to a month to resume normal activities. The visual recovery in Lasik surgery is better as compared to ReLEx SMILE. People with Lasik surgery are like to get more comfortable with reading books or working on computer screens earlier in comparison to a patient with ReLEx SMILE procedure.

Scope of treatment: Both Lasik and ReLEx SMILE procedures are safe and effective in treating various eyesight conditions. However, Lasik surgery has a wider scope in treating ocular conditions as compared to ReLEx SMILE. Lasik surgery corrects myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. The efficacy of ReLEx SMILE is limited to the correction of myopia and myopic astigmatism. Its efficacy in other conditions is under trial. Lasik surgery may not be an option for people with a thin cornea, while ReLEx SMILE is effective in such cases.

The cost involved: There is a cost difference between the two procedures. ReLEx SMILE is costlier as compared to the Lasik surgery.

Conclusion
ReLEx SMILE and Lasik surgery are safe if performed by the trained surgeons. Some of the basic differences between the two include procedure, types of laser used, cost, and the recovery period.