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LASIK (Laser Assisted in-Situ Keratomileusis) vision correction is a popular permanent operation on the cornea of the eyes to correct mild to moderate nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia. An amazing number of people worldwide have spent upward of three thousand dollars per eye on this wildly popular procedure. LASIK surgery is highly commercialized, it is becoming less expensive and more employee insurance programs now cover this procedure (Turner 2). The American Academy of Ophthalmology estimates that more than one million people will undergo LASIK eye surgery this year. Most operations will be successful however, more than fifty thousand patients will encounter complications that range from minor to serious and life altering (Suriano 1). The first idea of the modern LASIK procedure started about fifty years ago. In 1949, Jose I. Barraquer, M.D., of Bogota, Colombia, the father of lamellar refractive surgery, suggested that operating within the layers of the cornea could diminish refractive defects. Even though doctors had been splitting the cornea to remove scars for hundreds of years, the idea of operating on a healthy eye to correct refractive errors was considered radical. Dr. Barraquer invented the original ophthalmic equipment that has been updated for today’s vision correction procedures. The contributions of many other refractive surgeons have made LASIK possible. Luis A. Ruiz, M.D. was the first to do a “double-cut” operation that doctor’s call “keratomileusis in situ.” Dr. Ruiz performed tens of thousands of refractive operations by hand. Although many patients showed improvement in visual acuity without corrective lenses, results lacked the accuracy of today’s excimer laser (A type of laser that excites and then vaporizes the molecules of the cornea) surgery. Following the merger of two technologies, automated keratomileusis in situ and the computer-controlled excimer laser, finally brought us LASIK. Working under a surgical flap, surgeons treated the inner cornea with the computer software-guided excimer laser. This technique achieved much more accurate results than ALK (Slade 192). The best candidates for LASIK surgery are adults whose sight in mildly distorted with nearsightedness, astigmatism, farsightedness or presbyopia.
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