Dr. Dean Dornic: Hi, I am Dr. Dean Dornic of the Laser Eye Center of Carolina. We are located in Cary, North Carolina. Today, we are going to be discussing ways to reduce your dependence on glasses and contact lenses. The discussion will concentrate on the LASIK procedure, but we'll also be discussing some alternatives to LASIK such as PRK, CK, Intacs, Refractive Lens Exchange and implantable contact lenses. First my disclaimer; since we are going to be discussing some medical and surgical things here today, my discussion should not be construed as any type of endorsement of a particular procedure nor should you consider this a proper informed consent. If you are considering one of these procedures, make sure you've taken the time to discuss the pros and cons of any of these procedures with your surgeon.
Little bit more about myself. I am a graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. I got my medical degree from the University of Oklahoma. I did an internship at the Cleveland Clinic and I have my Ophthalmology training from the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. I have my refractive surgery training from the Assil Sinskey Eye Institute in Santa Monica, California. I have been practicing for ten years. I am a board certified ophthalmologist. I am a member of the Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Medical Association. I am also a consulting ophthalmologist on asklasikdocs.com. So let's go ahead and get started on discussion about refractive surgery.
Some of the conditions that might lead to dependence on eye glasses or contact lenses include nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism or focussing difficulties, sometimes known as Presbyopia. One of the most common conditions that causes a dependence on eye glasses or contact lenses is myopia or nearsightedness. This is where the eye focusses on things up-close, but is unable to focus on distant objects. Farsightedness is when light rays that come into the eye don't focus on the retina, or actually focus behind the retina. One of the misconceptions about farsightedness is that most patients feel that farsightedness means that they are able to see long distance and not well up-close. It's actually not true. Some patients who are farsighted don't see well anywhere. They don't see well at distance or up-close. In general, however, we do see that most farsighted individuals have more difficulty with their near vision than they do with their distance vision.
Next, astigmatism is when the eye is a little lopsided. If we look at the cornea which is the first structure that light hits when it comes into the eye, that cornea should be spherical in shape in order for the optics to be good. But if that cornea is a little bit warped, it has more curvature one way than the other, such as the side of a football, then light rays become distorted and the patients do not see well either at distance or up-close. Finally, Presbyopia is a condition that many patients over the age of 40 experience and then one of the first complaints we hear from individuals with Presbyopia is that their arms aren't long enough to be able to read. So in those cases, these might be individuals who saw well all their life until they got into their 40s and 50s and found out they had a need for reading glasses because they no longer had the ability to focus their eyes for reading a material.
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