Poor eyesight - cornea surgery

There are three procedures on the market to help improve poor vision without the hassle of glasses and contacts.

One is the custom LASIK procedure, where doctors use a laser to reshape your cornea. It is probably the most popular eye surgery.

Another procedure, known as Monovision, can help people who need or wear bifocals.

"That's where one eye is corrected for distance, and one eye is corrected for near," said Dr. Calvin Sprick with the Eye Clinic of Wisconsin.

Finally, there is a lens implant procedure for patients who are extremely nearsighted. It wasn't available until about a year ago.

Dr. Sprick says that all three of these procedures range anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 per eye. Since the procedures are elective, he says they will not be covered by most insurance plans.

In Part II of this report, learn what risks you can take with these surgeries, whether or not they're painful, and how one area woman got through her LASIK procedure.

Lasik surgery was a blessing for 47-year-old Sherri Brager who had been wearing glasses and contacts since the second grade, but she did take some risks by opting for surgery.

One of the worst is the possibility of infection

Sherri says, "But the risk of infection in the U.S. is very, very low with the good antibiotic drops that we have." But say you decide to take the risk; you now have to wonder, will surgery on such a delicate part of your body be painful? Sherri says her lasik procedure took just 15 minutes and only caused what she described as "discomfort."

"And you can hear the laser firing. It makes a firing noise, and they're very good at telling you how many seconds are left, Sherri says.

And the day after the procedure?

"I felt like I had a little bit of sand in my eye, and my eyes were tired, but other than that there was no discomfort." Then something remarkable happened. "I woke up and I could see the clock for the first time." Sherri says the toughest part of getting her lasik done was actually the two-day process she had to go through before the actual procedure.

Dr. Calvin Sprick, ophthalmologist at The Eye Clinic of Wisconsin, says, "We'll do some measurements of the eye to make sure your cornea is thick enough to make sure the prescription is within the range and that your eye is really healthy."

Other eye surgeries include Monovision, a procedure to help people who need or wear bifocals and lens implants, for people who suffer from extreme nearsightedness.

Dr. Sprick says the experience of those surgeries is similar to that of the lasik, an experience that Sherri Brager won't ever take for granted.

"I had always said that if I had one wish, it would be for good eyesight, and I got that."

Source: RefillPill.com Editors' Choice