Proper preoperative tests and strong will by the patient are needed.
Proper preoperative tests and strong will by the patient are needed for treating myopia with laser.

Such procedures have been performed for 25 years and experts consider them a revolution in myopia and astigmatism correction. Precision and safety are two of their characteristics.
Proper preoperative tests and strong will by the patient are needed.
Proper preoperative tests and strong will by the patient are needed for treating myopia with laser.

Such procedures have been performed for 25 years and experts consider them a revolution in myopia and astigmatism correction. Precision and safety are two of their characteristics.
“There are two methods of effective correction of low or high degrees of myopia and astigmatism”, ophthalmologist surgeon Dr. George Chronopoulos points out and explains: “One is called PRK and the other LASIK. The difference between these two methods lies in the fact that, in the first, the correction occurs on the surface of the cornea, while in the second in its interior”.

In PRK, he remarks, there might be some minor discomfort for the first two or three days after the procedure but in LASIK the discomfort is insignificant and eyesight restoration happens almost immediately, on the very first day. The final result is the same in both cases. What's time consuming is the preoperative tests, on which successful results rely.

The procedure lasts five to six minutes for both eyes, local anesthesia is used and the patient feels no pain.

The correction is permanent and in the very few cases where some degrees of the condition remain, then an additional laser procedure can be done to achieve full correction. On the topic of complications of such a procedure, Dr. Chronopoulos explains that their long experience allows the surgeons to claim that the possibility of serious complications is minimal, while rare complications can be treated.

“The chances of infection from contact lenses are more than the possible complications of refractive surgery”, he says, pointing out that the next step for scientists is to treat presbyopia.

Published in the newspaper Ethnos on 28 April 2007