Five Benefits of Bladeless LASIK

Are you tired of wearing glasses and changing prescriptions? Chances are you’ve heard about LASIK eye surgery, the most popular vision correction procedure. Your eye doctor may have already recommended it to restore your clear, 20/20 vision and combat the progression of vision problems that impact your quality of life. But do you know enough about LASIK and its life-changing impact on the long-term health of your eyes?

For starters, how is LASIK performed? Knowing how LASIK works allows you to unlock its life-changing benefits. The science behind it tells you why you won’t be needing your glasses anymore and just how long it will take to experience its full effect.

Since there’s more than one way to perform LASIK, it helps to opt for the best one — which technique presents the shortest recovery period, maximum precision for targeting damaged corneal tissue, and lifelong clear and healthy vision.

Traditional vs. Bladeless LASIK: Know the Difference

You may have heard of different LASIK methods, most popularly the bladeless technique, compared to traditional procedures. Traditional LASIK procedures involve creating a flap in the cornea with a microkeratome device ( A blade) , which lifts the flap and allows the surgeon to reshape your eyes using an excimer laser.

In contrast, bladeless LASIK drastically eliminates this invasive approach. Bladeless LASIK uses a femtosecond laser powered by light energy to create the flap. With precision nailed down to 10 microns, bladeless LASIK significantly cuts down the risk of injury to the cornea and the risk of complications. Thanks to these, bladeless LASIK offers faster healing — and faster you see results in clear vision.

The Benefits of Bladeless LASIK

With increased precision, lower risk of injury, and faster healing, there’s no question that bladeless LASIK is the leading option for laser eye surgery. These feats were made possible by advancements in laser surgery technology. Today, bladeless LASIK offers a better lifestyle and occupational prognosis than traditional laser eye surgery.

Deciding between bladeless and traditional LASIK? Discover the unmatched benefits of the innovative bladeless LASIK technique to make an informed choice regarding your long-term vision care:

1. Bladeless LASIK has a much lower risk of complications.

Procedures like LASIK are supposed to improve your quality of life and overall health, not diminish it. While any medical procedure comes with a certain level of risk, bladeless LASIK has significantly reduced this compared to traditional laser eye surgery.

Bladeless LASIK offers a significantly reduced risk of intraoperative complications that can further damage your eyesight. That means the procedure is more likely to succeed and provide lasting vision correction.

Thanks to increased precision in creating the flap, the risk of causing corneal abrasions as the cornea is reshaped are also lower, along with the risk of accidentally inducing astigmatism — yet another vision problem LASIK is supposed to treat — during the procedure. Post-op, the risk of common complications like diffuse lamellar keratitis, flap striae, and epithelial growth is significantly lower.

With a much lower risk of complications that your eye surgeon needs to manage, they can focus better on achieving your desired vision correction results.

2. Better prognosis for severe vision problems

Since bladeless LASIK uses a femtosecond laser to create the flap, this results in precise thickness. That means patients with more refractive errors — like those experiencing extremely high levels of nearsightedness — and those whose corneas are thin are now good candidates for LASIK. Previously, their vision problems could not be treated with traditional laser eye surgery due to lower precision levels.

3. Faster healing for a broader range of vision problems

Since bladeless LASIK uses a femtosecond laser for increased precision, the corneal flaps created to access the cornea are also more predictable and uniform in shape. That promotes faster healing, so you can reap the benefits of restored clear, 20/20 vision much sooner.

Bladeless LASIK makes this possible because the femtosecond laser also allows eye surgeons to create different shapes and sizes of corneal flaps as required. The edges of these corneal flaps can also be more easily structured to fit back into place after the procedure, which speeds up healing and reduces the risk of damage to the cornea.

And because bladeless LASIK can create thinner corneal flaps for already thin corneas, the prognosis of correcting higher levels of vision problems like nearsightedness is also much higher. Simply, more people can now benefit from lasting vision correction and improved quality of life with bladeless LASIK, compared to traditional laser eye surgery.

4. Restored 20/20 vision in no time

Along with the correction of higher levels of nearsightedness, constant advancements in laser eye surgery have also resulted in sharper and clearer vision. In particular, Bladeless LASIK has provided patients with a better prognosis for restoring healthy eyesight compared to traditional laser eye surgery. This feat is made possible by a much shorter procedure time, which takes only about 15 to 20 minutes to complete, with a vision already steadily improving in as little as 24 hours.

5. Increased comfort and safety, and faster return to normal activities

Perhaps the biggest factor that stands in the way of treatment is the common fear of pain and discomfort. But with bladeless LASIK, discomfort is only minimal — if any — and most patients don’t even experience any pain.

Without these typical roadblocks to corrective treatment, more patients can get the vision care they need. The lasting results from bladeless LASIK allow you to enjoy sports and other activities and perform well in occupations that require clear 20/20 vision. And if you were previously worried about how long it takes to enjoy these benefits, don’t be — most patients can resume their regular routine in as little in 2 to 5 days.

Overall, bladeless LASIK offers unparalleled safety at a level not previously possible with traditional laser eye surgery. This is possible due to the precise thickness of the corneal flap, which is uniform regardless of the natural curve of a patient’s cornea and reduces the risk of injury to the flap. In contrast, using a blade as in traditional laser eye surgery increases the risk of creating a flap that is thinner at the centre, especially if the cornea is naturally more curved.

To learn more about the life-changing benefits of bladeless LASIK, call Clearview Institute at 647-493-6196, or contact us here.