What happens on the day?
The whole procedure takes about 45 minutes for both eyes and you are able to leave straight afterward. You will not be able to drive home and it is best to have someone with you, although you can go home in a taxi. A follow-up appointment for the next day will be scheduled for you.
Every effort will be made to make you feel comfortable and relaxed on your arrival at the Lions Eye Institute Laser Vision Centre. A premedication relaxant is given to you before the procedure. Your surgeon will talk you through the operation as you go.
You will be positioned on a comfortable operating bed with your head in a rest. Anaesthetic drops are used to numb the cornea and surface of the eye to be treated. An instrument called a speculum keeps your eyelids open so you cannot blink. You may feel some stretching from this.
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A suction ring is placed on your eye and the Intralase moved into position. The laser creates a flap in the corneal tissue, which takes about 26 seconds, and once this is done, the bed is rotated under the Excimer laser for the final part of the procedure.
Your eye area is cleaned with antiseptic and a plastic drape applied to keep the area clean. Again, a speculum will keep your eyelid open for the procedure. Marks are placed on your cornea and then the eye tracker is activated. Your surgeon then lifts the flap with a special instrument. The Excimer laser then reshapes your cornea. (At this point it is important that you focus on the flashing red light of the fixation beam.) Once the laser ablation is completed, the flap is returned to its normal position and smoothed out. It adheres back to the underlying cornea naturally without the need for sutures. Antibiotic drops are instilled and a clear shield is placed over the eye.
If both eyes are being treated, there is a short break while the laser and other instruments are made ready.
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