A Brief History Of Laser Eye Surgery
Many people assume that Laser Eye Surgery is a relatively new technique, but the idea of surgically correcting vision by reshaping the surface of the eye has been around for many years, in a variety of forms.
This is known as refractive surgery as it purpose is to change the way light enters the eye by reshaping the cornea, removing refractive errors, and effectively re-focussing the light onto the retina, resulting in clear, crisp vision.
Professor Jose Barraquer’s early pioneering work in refractive surgery over 50 years ago led the way for the vision correction procedures we have today.
Laser Eye Surgery was first introduced around 20-25 years ago by professor John Marshall, who patented the idea of using an excimer laser to reshape the cornea, because of the accuracy of the excimer laser itself.
Over the years, a number of different procedures have been developed. Early procedures used techniques to reshape the surface of the eye – referred to as PRK.
Through better understanding, the healing times were found to be much quicker when doing a lot of the reshaping not onto the surface of the eye as in PRK, but under a thin flap directly onto the cornea.
This is where the modern LASIK procedure was born.
There are now over 15 years of evidence documenting good stability of patients’ vision post Laser Eye Surgery, with no adverse effects over that long period of time.
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Even the early Laser Eye Surgery patients are continuing to enjoy their good vision over many, many years.
To find out more about LASIK Laser Eye Surgery, and the other vision correction procedures we offer at London Vision Clinic, call us on 020 7224 1005.
Dr Timothy Archer graduated from Oxford and Cambridge Universities with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and a postgraduate degree in Computer Science. He joined the clinic in 2003, where he established his career specialising in laser refractive surgery research alongside Professor Reinstein. Today, he manages the in-house research team, of which achievements include 124 peer-reviewed papers, 32 book chapters, over 100 scientific articles and a published textbook. He also oversees and edits the content on London Vision Clinic’s website.
Knowing a history about laser eye surgery can ease the mind of anyone preparing for the procedure. Thanks so much for the info!
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