Blade free lasik eye surgery is a popular choice and many patients think that laser sight correction does not need any metal blades and that everything is done by laser. This wasn’t always so. Until a short while ago a laser wasn’t used for all the surgical steps. Still in use is the microkeratome, which is a manually operated instrument that has a metal blade, used to create the corneal flap ahead of the actual laser vision correction surgical procedure.
Once some people find out about the microkeratome blade they often get a little squeamish, which is quite understandable. After all the thought of having a blade slicing into the front of your eye is not a pleasant one. It is an understandable worry, as many laser eye surgery complaints originate from the usage of the microkeratome blade.
The good news is, you don’t have to be put off by this thought ever again since, with the most advanced treatments, there is now no need to use a blade through the course of any part of your laser vision correction.
What is Blade free Lasik?
Before we go on, many people have read about lasik but don’t really know what it represents. The eye correction surgery commonly known as blade free lasik is called that because the actual work of correction is done with a laser, instead of with a blade, as in some older treatments.
Lasik also known as blade-free laser assisted in-situ keratomileusis, is a refractive surgery operation which uses an excimer laser, under computer control, which removes just the right amount of tissue directly below a very thin flap of corneal tissue, to rectify many types of refractive error. With blade free lasik, a laser is used for all parts of the procedure.
What is the advantage of using a laser instead of a blade for eye surgery?
Clinical studies have indicated that whether or not the corneal flap is made with a metal-bladed microkeratome or with a femtosecond laser microkeratome, the results can be excellent. As far as results go there does not seem to be a significant advantage by cutting the flap with a blade or a laser beam when it comes to the visual improvement after the surgery.
What can be said however is that blade free lasik should offer a slight safety advantage over lasik in which a metal bladed instrument is used. This is because, when using a blade, the flap can be sometimes be a little malformed, such as having a ragged edge or other slight irregularities. However, when using blade-free lasik, the risk of creating an irregular flap should be much reduced.
What this means in effect is that flap-related complications can be more easily avoided by using a blade-free lasik technique. No matter which method is used to make the flap, though, the odds of any problems occurring while cutting the flap during laser eye surgery is very small.
Lasik Safety
Today, laser eye surgery can now be performed to exacting dimensions using the latest technology such as Intralase, a computer-guided laser which creates the corneal flap using a highly accurate laser beam instead of using a metal blade. With this you can get full laser vision correction, with blade-free safety and comfort plus the benefit of faster recovery.
The fact is, with the best lasik surgeons and the latest equipment, a great percentage of people will have no major problems after laser eye surgery and in most cases no more need for glasses or contact lenses.
Overall, blade free lasik eye surgery has a very good safety profile so there is very little chance of any problems happening but just remember to do your due diligence before going ahead with it.
More information: http://www.ilasik.com/6000-all-about-ilasik.aspx