The Different Types of Refractive Eye Surgery in Melbourne
Refractive eye surgery refers to the surgical process of correcting refractive focusing errors for your eyes, which are caused by the cornea. These types of surgeries are performed on eye conditions such as short sightedness (myopia), long sightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism.
People with short sighted vision experience blurred long distance vision. With long sightedness, people experience blurred short distance vision with an excessive amount of focussing needed. With astigmatism, people will experience blurred short and long distance vision. Here at NewVision Clinics, we offer modern, up-to-date myopia treatment, hyperopia treatment and astigmatism laser eye treatments to correct each of these conditions at East Melbourne, Windsor and Cheltenham.
Understanding Refractive Errors
The three refractive eye conditions, myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism are attributed to the way the cornea focuses light to the retina. In the case of long sighted vision, the cornea of the eye is too flat, causing the light rays to focus behind the retina, instead of directly on it.
For short sightedness the inverse is true. The cornea is too steep, causing the light rays to focus in front of the retina. In the case of astigmatism, the cornea is oval in shape, rather than spherical and this causes refraction errors in both short and long distance vision.
Myopia Treatment, Hyperopia Treatment & Astigmatism Treatment
To correct refraction errors with laser eye surgery, the cornea is reshaped. In the case of myopia treatment, the cornea is flattened. For hyperopia treatment, the cornea is steepened. For astigmatism treatment, the oval curvature of the cornea is reshaped to a spherical one.
Laser Eye Surgery Melbourne
All three refractive eye conditions can be treated with prescriptive glasses or contact lenses to refocus the light, or with laser eye surgery to reshape the cornea.
Our first choice for laser eye surgery is LASIK surgery, which is a procedure with a fast 1-2 day recovery time. LASIK surgery involves creating a corneal flap. The cornea is then reshaped by the excimer laser before the flap is repositioned to heal naturally.
PRK surgery has a longer healing time and is recommended for people with thinner corneas. Instead of creating a flap on the cornea, it is gently polished away. Excimer lasers then reshape the cornea, and a “bandage” contact lens is temporarily placed on the eye whilst the epithelium grows back. The contact lens is removed 3 or 4 days after the procedure. Advanced PRK surgery has an average 5-day recovery time.
The specific surgery required for your eye condition is determined by our specialists after a thorough examination of your eyes.
For LASIK surgery and Advanced PRK surgery options to correct refraction errors from your short sightedness, long sightedness or astigmatism, feel free to contact NewVision Clinics on 1800 20 20 20 for a consultation in Melbourne.