Laser surgery can reduce or eliminate your need for glasses or contact lenses by reshaping your cornea, the transparent outer layer that fits over your iris and pupil. Surgeons have been performing this common procedure, called photorefractive keratectomy, or PRK, for several years. A newer technique, another mouthful called laser assisted in-situ keratomileusis, or LASIK, is an increasingly popular alternative to PRK.

If your vision is mildly to moderately bad, both techniques promise you about a 75 percent chance of perfect vision and a 95 percent chance of 20/40 (6/12) vision or better, which would make it legal for you to drive without corrective lenses.

What does the surgery involve?

Your doctor will examine each eye and make a map of its surface. Then he or she will calculate how much tissue should be removed in what pattern, and will enter that information into the computer that controls the laser. Anaesthetic drops will numb the nerve endings in your eyes. With your eyelids held open by small clamps, you'll actually be able to see what the surgeon is doing. Older machines require you to stare at a red dot in order to keep your eye still. (If your eye wanders, the doctor must take his or her foot off the pedal that operates the laser).

But some surgeons now use a suction device to hold your eye steady, and some newer lasers can actually track and compensate for any involuntary eye movement you make. The sculpting takes only a few minutes at most. After PRK you'll need to wear protective contact lenses for a few days while your epithelium grows back; it will be about a week before your eyes are functioning properly.

 If you've had LASIK, you should be able to see normally within a few hours, but your doctor may ask you to keep your eyes bandaged overnight to be sure that the epithelium re-adheres properly to the cornea. With LASIK, fewer than three percent of patients will require a repeat procedure in the same eye due to the under- or over-correction of the visual defect

Make an enquiry

Medpages.ie has arrangements with some of the major Irish providers of diabetes screening and testing clinics, to provide you with further information about their services. You'll get a response within 48 hours.

Complete the enquiry form....

Find a laser eye clinic

If you're looking for a laser eye clinic, you can search our database of private laser eye clinics in Ireland.

Find a laser eye clinic...