Lasik's Non-Surgical Alternatives

Lasik's Non-Surgical Alternatives

If Lasik is not right for your eyes, or the thought of it does not appeal to you. You may wish to consider contact lenses, Orthokeratology (Ortho-K), or, that old standby, eyeglasses. Not only are these options cheaper, but they might suit your lifestyle better and is less scary than surgery. All these methods have one thing in common and that is the benefit of reversibility.

Contact lens

Putting aside Lasik, there is a huge variety of contact lens designed for usual and special needs on the market today. They are now available in bifocal prescriptions. And, sensitive eyes now have the option of extra thin lenses. There are soft, comfortable lenses that you can discard after a day or a month, and rigid gas permeable lenses that can last years and provide sharper, clearer vision than soft lenses.

Soft lenses

This type of lens absorbs moisture and takes the shape of the eye with more ease. They are cheaper than rigid lenses, but more expensive in the long run.

Rigid Lenses

As for this type of lenses, they are more durable but take more time to get use to them. They are more resistant to buildup of deposits. Even lasik deals with astigmatism. With rigid contacts, you can differentiate between the left and right eyes and select toric lenses for astigmatism. News about the seven-day and 30-day continuous wear of lenses have recently been approved by the FDA.

What does Lasik do?

Basically, through surgery, they change the shape of the cornea. Ortho-K uses rigid gas permeable contact lenses to train the shape of the cornea. In both, this improves the eye's ability to refract light and focus. Though the result isn't permanent, with prolonged use, a person's vision may improve drastically, up to 20/40 or even 20/20 vision.

Ortho-K therapy

In the beginning of this process, the contact lenses are worn about eight hours a day. After lasik, vision improvement occurs in days. With Ortho-K, as the cornea changes shape with time, the vision will keep on improving until the lenses are worn less and less each day. Unfortunately, stopping the use of Ortho-K lenses causes the corneas to revert back to their original state. And also, the effects of Lasik may fade, too.

The clarity of the vision may vary, and it may take several months to change the vision measurably. To get desired effect more rapidly, accelerated Ortho-K therapy may be used.

Stick with eyeglasses

If lasik and contact lenses are not for you, the only left possibility is to stick with your eyeglasses. Eyeglass frames are more durable, more flexible and come in many different shapes. Nowadays, lenses are made lighter and stronger with more scratch resistance. New options for glasses include tinting that changes faster, progressive bifocal lenses, anti-reflective coatings, UV protection and greater impact resistance.

Advantages

Some benefits you get from this is that they are less expensive than contact lenses or lasik surgery. They are easier to change and fashion-foward styling. The best thing is that the good eyesight that they have provided to you for years will continue indefinitely.

Conclusion

If you cannot have lasik surgery now, or even if you never choose to have that procedure, these are viable, safe, money-saving choices. Even if you decide to have lasik surgery in the future, choosing either contact lenses or Ortho-K therapy, or just your eyeglasses for now can keep you going until you make that decision.

By Louis Zhang

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