Baltimore LASIK doctors

Your surgical options range from PRK to Lasik to RLE(Refractive Lens Exchange). Considering your age and the severity of hyperopia in your nondominant eye, I would most likely encourage lens based rather than corneal based surgery. A Refractive Lens Exchange is, essentially, a lens removal procedure identical to a cataract surgery(except you don't have a cataract). Once your natural lens is removed, a replacement lens can be put in place that takes away your farsightedness(hyperopia) and also corrects your need for reading glasses. There are several different lens implants available that will correct both of these issues for you, so I think this is the way to go. There is no question that RLE is a bit more invasive than Lasik, thus exposing you to a slightly increased risk, as well as increased cost, but, in my opinion, these negatives will be more than exceeded by your satisfaction. Also, when you consider that you likely have 40+ years to enjoy this new vision, it will be more than worth it!

It is usually fine to have a Lasik consult one day and surgery the next day. This is frequently done for our out of town patients, who are traveling here for the procedure. There are a few things to consider, though. The first is that a proper Lasik consultation involves dilating the patients pupils and if the exam is done late in the afternoon the pupils may not be back to uniform shape by the next morning. Since the radar tracking device built into the laser is based off of pupillary centration, this might necessitate delaying the surgery another day. So, if you want to do this, I would recommend the consult early in the morning the day before surgery and the surgery late the next day. This seems to work very well for me. Remember, you need to leave your contact lenses out at least 7-10 days before surgery, so that needs to be factored in.

Other issues would revolve around the potential of finding something at the time of the consultation that would require postponing the procedure. Examples of this would be preoperative dryness or conjunctivitis. This, of course, becomes an inconvenience for you, but a necessity to get the best outcome. Lastly, is the very unlikely notion that something might be found at the time of the consultation that would make you a noncandidate. An example of this would be a corneal condition called keratoconus, which is easily picked up during the examination. So, you would have gotten yourself all psyched up to have the procedure, have it scheduled for tomorrow, then see me today and have to suffer the disappointment of hearing that you are not a candidate.

All in all, I see patients all the time in the manner you suggest, and I rarely see any trouble with this approach.

Your question is a good one and implies the confusion that can occur when a patient begins doing research about Laser Vision Correction(Lasik and PRK). During the Lasik procedure, both of the lasers you mention are used. The Intralase laser is used to create the corneal flap that is the first step of the two step Lasik process. The second step of the Lasik procedure is the gentle reshaping of the cornea with an excimer laser and the advanced wavefront laser you mention is an example of one of the excimer lasers available.

I have been performing Laser Vision Correction in the United States for 17 years and before that in Toronto. I can honestly say that I have never seen a better, safer and more exacting array of lasers available as they are today. I had my nearsightedness and astigmatism corrected in 1994 and I can safely say that 2012 technology makes the laser platform I was treated under look archaic. The beauty, though, is that I am still 20/20 without glasses or contacts all these many years later. The miracle I recieved in my laser correction is just that and its life changing to boot!