How To Prepare For Refractive Surgery

Introduction

Refractive surgery is used to improve the refractive state of the eye. This will in most cases, remove the need for you to rely on contacts or glasses to be able to see right. It will either involve reshaping the cornea or getting rid of cataracts. Today, it is mostly done with the excimer lasers. It can help with problems such as astigmatism, myopia and hyperopia. The surgery was first done in 1896 by Lendeer Jans Lans an ophthalmology teacher in the Netherlands. In 1930, Tsotomu Sato first attempted the surgery on fighter pilots. Of course with any surgery this also carries some risk, you could end up with ghosting, starbursts or halos to just name a few complications that can happen. There has been a decrease in the complications that happen with this surgery as new ways to do the surgery have been advanced.

Step 1

One way to prepare for refractive surgery is to make sure that on the day the surgery will be done that you have your eyes free of any and all makeup. You also want to make sure that your eyelashes are clean. You also want to make sure that your eyes are free of any eye cream, so do not use any on that day. You also want to refrain from putting on any eye make up or cream the day before your surgery.

Step 2

When preparing for your refractive surgery, you will want to stop wearing your contacts for a couple of weeks before hand. Wearing your contacts can change the shape of your cornea and this can lead to the wrong measurements of the eye. This can lead to the surgery not working at all or not working the right way. This will mean that the surgery was not effective.

Step 3

You will not be able to see right after your refractive surgery and will need to make sure that you have a ride home. If you do not, then you will need to call your doctor immediately and reschedule. Even though the surgery will help your eyes, it will not be immediate because they will have to heal. This can take a little bit of time. So you really need to make sure that someone else will be able to drive you home on the day of your surgery. Also make arrangements for the person to drive you back to the doctor; this usually happens with in a few days of having the surgery.

Step 4

Before having the refractive surgery, you should know what the cost is going to be for you to have it done and how much your insurance will cover. You should also make arrangements to pay your portion either before or after the surgery is done. It all depends on your doctor office and if they want the payment right away.

Step 5

There are some things to remember after your refractive surgery. Your vision may be blurry for a day or two and this is very normal for most people that go through the surgery. It will diminish in the first day, but should not give you any problems a few days after your surgery. If your eyes continue to be blurry, than you need to call the doctor back.  You will need to be  careful after the surgery to not rub your eyes.

Tips

Refractive surgery can change the way that you see and is probably the closest that you will come to perfect eyesight without glasses. Most people that have it done wonder what took them so long to make the decision because they are so happy with the results.

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