Lasik eye surgery is currently the procedure of choice and is most commonly used by refractive surgeons. Lasik eye surgery takes the most surgical skill to perform and is usually the choice for mild moderate and severe nearsightedness. Lasik also has the quickest recovery time of all three laser eye surgery techniques. Lasik is usually used for astigmatisms and is currently the only surgical procedure for farsightedness. Lasik eye surgery is preferred by most ophthalmologist and optometrists when they have their vision corrected so that is a good indication that the Lasik eye surgery is the surgery of choice.

Home
Lasik Procedure
Lasik or PRK
Lasik Problems
Choose Lasik Doctor
Common Lasik Questions
Common Vision Problems
How Do Eyes Work
Lasik Terms
Lasik News

If you have -3 diopters of nearsightedness any of the three laser eye surgery approaches would work to correct your vision, but Lasik would have the quickest recovery time.

LASIK eye surgery as mentioned above is the most common laser eye surgery used today. In Lasik surgery, a small flap of skin is cut on the top of the cornea with a tool called a keratome, then the laser is used to make the necessary cuts below the flap then the flap is put back in place. This technique allows for a much quicker healing time

RK laser eye surgery uses a hand held diamond tiped knife to perform the eye surgery. These allows more room for error and tends to have less consistent results as compared with Lasik eye surgery. With RK surgery incision scars are left on the eye and can cause problems in vision. Most doctors don't use RK surgeries anymore ,. but it is worth mentioning that many people have had their eyesight greatly improved with RK surgery.

PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) laser eye surgeries were the most common eye surgeries until rather recently. In PRK the laser energy so applied to the surface so the cornea where as in Lasik a thin flap is cut first then the laser work is done underneath the flap. Results from PRK are often as good as Lasik but there are a few big concerns mainly in the healing process. Because more of the eye tissue is removed in PRK, irregular healing can occur sometimes resulting in a "hazing" of vision. Nevertheless, PRK is still used in rare cases over Lasik. For instance if the surface of the cornea is damaged , or if you have a extremely poor epithelium, or if you have extremely small & deeply set eyes where the surgeon cannot get to the eye.

As a note of precaution, many laser eye surgeons still use PRK instead of Lasik because it is cheaper and less technical to do. Here is something to think about: Lasik is 10% laser and 90 % surgeon skill and PRK is 90% laser and 10% surgeon skill. It is advisable to choose a good surgeon who has been performing Lasik eye surgeries for a long time.