Seven Places To Research Lasik Before Going To The Doctor

Seven Places to Research Lasik before Going to the Doctor

LASIK (Laser in Situ Keratomileusis) is very popular combined surgical and laser procedure that has helped millions of people around the world regain all or most of their failed vision. Basic Lasik is used mainly to correct myopia (shortsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness) while the advanced Lasik procedure known as Custom Lasik is able to correct far more vision problems and, because of the advanced "wavefront� technology it uses, leave behind far fewer complications. There is concern among many medical professionals that people are 'jumping on the Lasik bandwagon,' putting their vision on the line and, in some cases, going far into financial debt without fully understanding the Lasik procedures; the safety of the procedures, i.e., the possibility of post-surgical complications; the full cost of Lasik; or that some of the advertising claims they are bombarded with on a daily basis may be less than true.

If you visit the following seven Internet sites and spend some time comprehending the information provided there you will have departed the ranks of the uneducated potential-Lasik patient and earned the happier title of educated consumer. These pages can help you make a decision that may in one way or another, change your life.

All About Vision at http://www.allaboutvision.com/ is perhaps the most complete vision site on the Internet. This site provides information on all aspects of vision correction from glasses to contacts to the most advanced Lasik procedures and provides detailed information about vision problems that require correction. All Lasik procedures are discussed in depth and they provide a two-minute screening test you can take to determine if you are a good candidate for Lasik. The test generates a personalized report. The site accepts advertising so you will see ads for many vision products and even a section that offers coupons on vision care and vision related products but the meat of the site, the information, is not product specific.

AboutLasikEyeSurgery.com at http://www.aboutlasikeyesurgery.com/ specializes in information about Lasik procedures: providing cost information and describing the pre-op evaluation, the surgery procedures and the post-op care.

ComplicatedEyes.org at: http://www.complicatedeyes.org/ came into existence specifically to address the needs of patients with LASIK complications and to provide doctors with an additional source for information on Lasik complications. The organization that created ComplicatedEyes.org is the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance (CRSQA); you're sure to find the research and detailed information on Lasik complications on this site informative.

The Vision Correction Website at http://www.lasersite.com/ provides elegantly simple, illustrated explanations of: how the eye works; the anatomy of the eye; how Lasik is performed and what equipment used, the Intacs procedure, the PRK procedure and the Radial Keratotomy (RK) procedure.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) has a search function where you can search for a qualified, certified AAO member in your area. The AAO's "Find an Ophthalmologist� (Find an Eye M.D.) page is at http://www.aao.org/aao/find_eyemd.cfm. Enter your city, select your State and Country in those selection boxes on the page and then select "Refractive Surgery� in the "Specialty� selection box; leave the "Last Name� box blank. After a disclaimer page where you must "Accept� the disclaimer you will be shown a list of qualified Refractive surgeons in your city. Note that the AAO members with the designation FACS after their names are also "Fellows� (members) of the American College of Surgeons. These are Refractive Surgeons who were required to pass a thorough evaluation in the areas of education, training, qualifications, competence and conduct before being allowed to display the FACS designation.



Wikipedia's Main Lasik page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasik provides a good history of Lasik along with an explanation of the surgical procedure, information about the possible complications and the safety of the procedure. They also provide you with some external links and other information related to Lasik.

WebMD, possibly the most used pages on the Internet for health information, does not sell you short when it comes to Lasik. At the WebMD home page (http://www.webmd.com/) there is a search function; enter "refractive surgery� in the search box to find what seems like an endless supply of authoritative medical articles on refractive surgery (Lasik).