Laser eye surgery is one of the most popular elective surgeries in the world, treating hundreds of thousands of people each year. As it becomes more accurate so the numbers of procedures being carried out grows. Laser eye surgery in capable of treating astigmatism, long sightedness and short sighted and it is equally effective at treating all 3. This means that 80% of the population are suitable for laser eye surgery.
Understanding exactly why you have poor eye sight is the first step in understanding how laser eye surgery works. Having perfect vision and therefore no glasses, simply means that your eyes naturally focus the light entering your eye onto your retina at the back of the eye. The retina is the part of the eye that is the most important when it comes to seeing perfectly.
If you are long sighted, the light entering your eye is focussed behind your retina. If you are short sighted, the light entering your eye falls in front of the retina. Astigmatism is caused by the shape of your eye being different in one direction compared with the other, resulting in blurred vision. Special lenses are needed to correct this eye sight problem.
