Glasses removal (refractive surgery)
The goal of refractive surgery (glasses removal in everyday language) is to reduce dependence on glasses and/or contact lenses. There are numerous surgical methods, some existing for a few years and some for several decades, where not every surgery suits every patient, and therefore the most important part of the whole process is actually performing a thorough suitability examination in order to determine which is the method that will give the best result for the patient. Therefore, no matter which glasses-removal institute you go to, it is advisable that you request this examination for free.
| Further articles: Laser glasses removal |
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Broadly, the types of glasses-removal surgeries can be divided into:
- Corneal glasses-removal surgeries (corneal or keratorefractive procedures)
- Intraocular glasses-removal surgeries (intraocular procedures)
Corneal glasses-removal surgeries (keratorefractive procedures)
Laser glasses removal
The most common corneal surgeries today are various methods of laser glasses removal (laser refractive surgery) such as PRK, LASIK or SMILE.
Additional corneal glasses-removal surgeries
Afterwards there are procedures that are less used today (except for exceptional conditions and diseases) such as incisional surgeries in the cornea for people with a very high cylinder, intrastromal corneal ring segments for keratoconus patients or ectasia of any type, and corneal crosslinking for keratoconus patients or ectasia of any type.
Intraocular glasses-removal surgeries (intraocular procedures)
Intraocular glasses-removal surgeries usually include implantation of a lens either in place of the natural lens that is in the eye (pseudophakic intraocular lens) or in addition to the existing lens (phakic intraocular lens).
Phakic lens surgery (phakic IOL)
When it is an addition to the existing lens, the lens can be implanted in the anterior chamber (anterior chamber phakic IOL), fixated to the iris (iris-fixated phakic IOL) or behind the iris, in front of the lens (posterior chamber phakic IOL).
Pseudophakic lens surgery (pseudophakic IOL)
When it is a lens implanted in place of the existing lens (pseudophakic IOL), it is customary to implant the lens inside the capsule of the original lens (in the capsular bag). If it is a correction of a residual prescription in a person who has already undergone lens-removal surgery or cataract removal, an additional lens can be added (so that they will have two artificial lenses).
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