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LASIK Up-to-date Newsletter
Refractive Surgery
- has been in use for over 40 years
Refractive surgery has empowered over one million people to improve
their vision without corrective lenses, and to pursue a more active
lifestyle. Laser surgery, and particularly LASIK has only become a “hot
“ subject in recent years, but the history of refractive surgery
goes back several decades.
Jose Barraquer is recognized around the world as the Father of modern
refractive surgery. He developed various methods to change the refraction
power by changing the shape of the cornea. His work, among others, was
the foundation for the development of modern LASIK: Barraquer used micro-keratoma
to remove a small centrical cornea slice. This small slice was frozen,
processed in the frozen condition and attached again.
Incisional “in-situ” cornea surgery developed from this
in the 1970’s. The shape of the cornea was altered with little
incisions, without removing any tissue. Astigmatic keratotomy, which
is used even today with very high astigmatism, is one of the incisional
techniques derived from this procedure.
The introduction of the Excimer Laser in the 1980’s resulted
in new perspectives. The Excimer Laser is a computer controlled UV-Laser
beam that forces open the inter-cellular connections between the cornea
cells with great accuracy. This ensures without touching, that only
as much tissue is removed as is absolutely necessary in order to achieve
an ideal cornea surface: The objective is to correct the refractive
power, and therefore the existing visual disorder.
The Excimer Laser operates without any side effects: It is a cold Laser,
and no thermal tissue damage in the surrounding tissue occurs. The first
patient was treated with the Excimer Laser in Germany in 1986. The treatment
used at that time became known as PRK – Photo Refractive Keratectomy.
In 1991 a Greek eye surgeon combined the incisional technique with
the use of a Laser; he utilized a micro keratoma to remove the cornea
flap, and the Excimer Laser to remove the exact measured amount of tissue:
LASIK was born.
Since then, LASIK has been tested the world over in clinical studies,
and has been continually improved. Professional ophthalmological societies
and organizations confirm that LASIK with myopia of up to –10
dpt, and an astigmatism of up to 3 dpt, as functional surgery, represents
a scientifically recognized procedure at a very low risk.
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