Has LASIK improved?

Here is my recent column on LASIK for the Trussville Tribune:

I have had many questions about Lasik surgery for vision correction recently. And no, Lasik is not the same as it was 10 or 12 years ago. New technology has expanded who can fit in the category of able to have Lasik, but the jury is still out on if it improves vision significantly over Lasik in its original form.

In 1994, when Baltimore ophthalmologist Anthony Kameen had Lasik surgery to correct nearsightedness and astigmatism, his options were not very extensive: a small mechanical blade, called a microkeratome, created a flap on his cornea, after which a conventional excimer laser was used to reshape the tissue underneath so that the cornea would be able to focus light directly on the retina, as it would in a normal eye.

That was, in a nutshell, the only way Lasik was performed then. Now, of course, the technology is much more advanced including smoother and more precise lasers, allowing patients to achieve better vision than ever possible. The newest technological addition called IntraLase allows patients to avoid operation via a metal blade, using a special laser that is used only for the purpose of flap creation.

Read the rest here