Is LASIK Eye Surgery Painful?

    CHICAGO, IL, June 15, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- LASIK is by far the most popular form of refractive surgery procedure available. It has been performed on millions of people nationwide to treat a wide range of refractive errors including even patients with high amounts of astigmatism. Because LASIK is a surgery, many people often mistakenly harbor the belief that LASIK is painful. On the contrary, LASIK is a virtually painless technique. What you experience both during and after your procedure is more akin to mild discomfort than pain.

Understanding the LASIK Procedure

LASIK is performed while you are awake. While this notion unnerves some patients, Dr. Golden will give you a sedative (e.g. Valium) and anesthetic eye drops to keep you entirely comfortable. Once you are relaxed, your surgeon will then carefully create a thin flap of corneal tissue on the surface of your eye. Still, you will not experience pain during this process: only a pressure feeling.

The next step of the LASIK procedure is to fold back the corneal flap to reveal the central section of your cornea, making way for the laser energy that will reshape your cornea. Once the laser treatment has been applied, your corneal flap is repositioned. Over time, it will naturally heal itself.

The LASIK Recovery Process

After LASIK eye surgery, you may experience some amount of scratchiness and irritation in your eyes. It will feel similar to having an uncomfortable contact lens in your eye. This irritation can be soothed with special eye drops, which your surgeon will provide you with. Normally, the feeling of grittiness wears off a few hours after surgery. The vast majority of Dr. Golden's patients have no discomfort postoperatively at all as he tells his patients to go to sleep after their procedures, which is easy after receiving the sedative.

Since the laser energy is applied under the cornea flap and in the central section of your cornea, your cornea does not actually register the fact that a surgery has been performed. This subdues your wound response and allows you to experience a speedy recovery with virtually no pain.

LASIK Complications

Like any surgical procedure, however, LASIK does come with a few potential complications that may lead to a greater amount of discomfort after surgery. Some of these issues include:

- Dry eyes
- Halos or starbursts at night early after surgery due to the dryness
- Light sensitivity due to dryness
- The need for fine-tuning after surgery

Most of these issues will resolve themselves over time as your eye continues to heal.

Overall, LASIK is an extremely safe and effective procedure that is essentially painless compared to many other types of surgeries. Although you may experience some degree of mild discomfort because of potential complications, the LASIK complication rate is itself quite minimal. Most LASIK patients are surprised by how painless the procedure is overall.

If you would like more information about LASIK eye surgery, please visit the website of the experienced Chicago LASIK eye surgeon Dr. Mark Golden at Doctors For Visual Freedom.

Website: http://www.doctorsforvisualfreedom.com

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