Variety of Eye Surgery Procedures
Eye surgery itself can take in a wide variety of different procedures, everything from cataract surgery to LASIK eye surgery to retinal surgeries to tropia surgeries. I will discuss some of the major type of eye surgery procedures that are performed today. Every type of eye surgery depends on a specialist eye doctor to perform. Although some ophthalmologists perform a variety of these procedures, it is best to seek out a specialist with strong credentials in the form of eye surgery that you are seeking.
Cataract Eye Surgery
Cataract eye surgery is generally performed on patients over 60 years of age. A cataract surgeon must assess the patient’s eyes to determine if cataract eye surgery is required. Newer upgrades to cataract eye surgery include Crystalens, ReStor, and ReZoom. Crystalens eye surgery is an accommodative lens that provides some near focus and is an advantage over typical monofocal cataract eye surgery. ReStor and Rezoom are multifocal cataract eye surgery. They provide good near vision as well but have been known to cause side effects of glare and halos in some patients.
LASIK Eye Surgery
LASIK eye surgery is among the most popular forms of eye surgery today. It is used to eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses. Most people undergoing LASIK eye surgery are myopic (near-sighted) but LASIK eye surgery can correct everything from near-sightedness to far-sightedness to astigmatism. LASIK eye surgery is performed over 1 million times every year in the United States.
Retina Eye Surgery
Retina eye surgery can have many functions and reasons. Everything from diabetes to age-related macular degeneration to retinal detachments to rare retinal diseases can require retina eye surgery.
Laser eye surgery on the retina can be required in cases of retinal bleeding (bleeding from blood vessels on the retina). The laser will stop the bleeding and sometimes prevent new bleeding. Sometimes laser eye surgery is used on the retina to seal holes or tears or prevent the worsening of these conditions. Laser eye surgery is even used to kill portions of the retina to decrease the demand for oxygen. Sometimes the blood vessels in the eye cannot provide enough oxygen to the living retina. In order to provide more oxygen new blood vessels will grow. Unfortunately, new blood vessels growing in the retina is dangerous as these new retina blood vessels tend to leak blood and cause more damage than they help. A laser eye doctor will use laser eye surgery in order to stop these new vessels from forming.
Eye Surgery for Tropias (Cross-eyed)
Children are sometimes born with crossed eyes. This is called a tropia. Eye surgery on the muscles of the eyes can sometimes correct this problem. Other times glasses can be used to effectively cure this problem (when it is due to high amounts of far-sightedness). Eye surgery is not required in every situation.
Other types of eye surgery
In addition to those listed there are many more types of eye surgery. Please consult with an eye doctor if you think that eye surgery might be important in your case or if you have a persistent eye problem. While eye surgery is one possible solution, in many cases other methods such as medicines, glasses, over the counter eye drops, or lifestyle or environmental changes can improve your eye condition. Eye surgery can sometimes be the final step and not the first step. If you are concerned about advice given concerning eye surgery, then it can be helpful to consult with more than one eye doctor.