LASEK Eye Surgery

• What is LASEK Eye Surgery?
• The Benefits of LASEK
• Find Out if You’re a Candidate for LASEK Eye Surgery
• The LASEK Procedure
• Is the LASEK Procedure Safe?
• Recovery After LASEK
• What does LASEK Cost?

We know that having a clear understanding of LASEK Eye Surgery is crucial before fully committing to this treatment. We simplify and walk you through the procedure, benefits, risks, and recovery to put your mind at ease and bring you one step closer to getting rid of your glasses or contact lenses for good.

What is LASEK Eye Surgery?

LASEK, or Laser-Assisted Sub-Epithelial Keratectomy, combines many benefits of two of the most commonly performed procedures; LASIK and PRK.

What does LASEK Eye Surgery Treat?

LASEK surgery is used to treat astigmatism, myopia (short-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness) and presbyopia – the dreaded short arm reading glasses phenomenon.

The Benefits of LASEK Eye Surgery 

LASEK surgery has several advantages:

• Complications associated with creating and reattaching the flap in the cornea are avoided
• LASEK leads to dry eyes less frequently than LASIK
• Most patients achieve exceptional vision improvement without complications after surgery
• Patients who are not candidates for LASIK because of thin corneas, are often good candidates for LASEK
• Recovery time after LASEK eye surgery is shorter than recovery time after PRK
• The cornea is not weakened, so LASEK can be performed more than once if necessary

Find Out If You’re a Candidate for LASEK Eye Surgery!

Your eyes and vision issues are unique; therefore, Dr Dylan Joseph will carefully consider which laser eye surgery procedure is best suited to you and your specific needs.

To make an appointment and find out if you’re a candidate for LASEK eye surgery, get in touch, we’d love to chat.

The LASEK Procedure

The procedure involves gently moving the very thin layer of cells on top of the cornea to the side instead of removing it like in the PRK eye surgery procedure.

After this has been done, the laser vision correction begins, and this thin layer is put back into place to allow healing. The cells heal and replace themselves over the next six days.

Studies show that this method allows slightly faster healing than the standard laser vision correction approach where the layer of cells are removed. There is also less discomfort.

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Is the LASEK Procedure Safe?

Yes, it is a safe procedure, but as with any invasive medical procedure, there are some risks and side effects that you should be aware of.

Light sensitivity after any laser vision correction surgery is normal.

The nerves in your eye are disrupted during the surgery and need to settle until they do, you will experience a degree of light sensitivity. Light sensitivity can also occur because the surface of your eyes is temporarily dry. Another cause of light sensitivity after LASEK is the fact that there is no longer a barrier in front of your eye in the form of your glasses or contact lenses, that used to provide protection.

Fluctuation in vision clarity often goes hand in hand with light sensitivity.

During the LASEK procedure, the tear film that normally lubricates the surface of your eye is temporarily disrupted. This can result in changes in your vision clarity between blinks.

Starbursts are another interesting phenomenon that can occur after LASEK surgery. Lasers are designed and have the optimised profiles to reduce high-order aberrations. However, depending on the machine used, lasers can still induce these aberrations.

Dr Dylan Joseph uses WaveLight technology to minimise these total aberrations. So, it is extremely rare to end up with starbursts after laser vision correction at our clinic.

Another risk you should be aware of is an infection, as with any surgical procedure.

We do our best to minimise the risk of infection by treating your eye with antibiotics before the laser eye surgery. We also administer a good dose of antibiotics after surgery.

If infection on the surface does occur, it is easily treatable and manageable at our clinic.

Inflammation usually occurs with infection but can occur separately as well. Depending on the degree of the inflammation, we can treat it conservatively and effectively manage it.

With the advances in technology used to perform the LASEK procedure and the management of side effects, most of the side effects are a thing of the past or short-lived.

Recovery After LASEK

To learn more about the recovery process after we perform LASEK eye surgery in one of our locations (including Cape Town, Knysna, Joburg, Gqeberha, and Nelspruit) feel free to get in touch and we will answer all your questions to put your mind at ease.

What does LASEK Cost?

To find out what the costs and your options are, contact us today.