Seattle LASIK doctors

If you are a contact lens wearer who sleeps in them at night time, often the cornea becomes oxygen deprived.  The cornea normally does not have any blood vessels which allows it to be more translucent and clear.  As time goes on with an oxygen deprived state, new abnormal blood vessels form and we call this "pannus."  If the blood vessels are not used after awhile, because the oxygen improves we call the vessels "ghost vessels." 

Lasik surgery involves cutting a flap on the cornea.  We do not want cells of any kind to be caught under the flap because this can cause additional inflammation and certain cells can cause epithelial downgrowth.  These problems in their most severe form can cause visually significant issues.  If you have significant blood vessel formation I would most likely advise you have PRK rather than LASIK.  PRK does not involve a flap and many of the complications with pannus and ghost vessels can be avoided.  The recovery time is longer, but in your case a safer procedure. 

The amount of astigmatism that you have currently should not be an issue with the VISX laser as it is now FDA approved for up to 5 diopters of astigmatism. Your surgeon will mark your eye carefully and you should be able to have a good refractive result. With either the intralase laser or PRK the shape of your cornea should not cause an issue.

Most likely they will be doing wavefront measurements and any higher order aberrations will also be fixed during your corrective procedure.