Dr. Stefano uses a VISX Star S4IR excimer laser. The excimer laser utilizes a cold beam of ultraviolet light to remove microscopic amounts of tissue from the interior of the cornea. The tissue is removed in the shape of a lens that will change the way rays of light are focused on the retina. By customizing the shape of the lens, the appropriate prescription can be effectively built into the eye.
There are age limits for LASIK depending on the type of your prescription. You must also be in good general health and have good eye health with no existing eye diseases or conditions such as cataracts, chronic corneal infections, or keratoconus. Your cornea must be not be too thin or shaped too steeply or irregularly. Dr. Stefano has been able to treat nearsightedness up to 15 diopters, farsightedness up to 6 diopters and astigmatism up to 5 diopters, in select patients. If you are not a good candidate for LASIK, Dr. Stefano offers several other procedures such as Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE), Conductive Keratoplasty (CK), Epi-K or cataract surgery that might be more suitable for you.
Dr. Stefano uses a local anesthetic eye drop before he begins the surgery. The majority of our patients say LASIK is not painful.
The actual time spent with Dr. Stefano in the laser suite is about 20 minutes. The actual length of treatment time always depends on the strength of the patient's prescription. Most treatments are between 15 and 60 seconds for each eye.
NO. Because the eye acts as a natural suction, you will not need any stitches after your LASIK surgery.
Most patients are elated but yet excited after their surgery is complete. For the remainder of the day, you should expect to be very light sensitive. You will also have a slight irritation or discomfort for the first few hours after your surgery (similar to having a piece of sand in your eye.) Dr. Stefano recommends that his patients return home for the remainder of the day and even rest for a couple of hours when they get home. The next morning, you may still have some light sensitivity, but the discomfort should have resolved.
You will probably notice a difference immediately after your surgery. In fact, most patients are able to read the clock before they leave the laser suite. The evening of your surgery, things will be a little blurry and seem to have a haze over them. The morning after your surgery, you may notice the most significant difference in what you are seeing. When patients come in for their one-day follow-up appointment with Dr. Stefano, most see at least 20/40, which is legally driving without corrective lenses. Some patients even see 20/20 or better the day following their surgery.
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