Even though they are only meant to treat or get rid of any kind of irregularities in our eyes or retina, the mere utterance of the words ‘Eye surgery‘ is enough to make most of our palms sweat. And more often than not, most of this nervousness comes from either misinformed concepts or not having adequate knowledge about the procedures and risks involved.
Read on for basic information on some of the different types of common eye surgeries done by thousands of ophthalmologists in surgical centers on a daily basis.
What are the different types of eye procedures and the risk involved?
- LASIK- Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis is a type of refractive surgery meant to treat hyperopia i.e. farsightedness, myopia i.e. nearsightedness and astigmatism and get rid of corrective glasses or contact lenses. The 15 minutes per eye process involves making a corneal flap of about 18-20mm using a microkeratome blade; after which, a laser is used to reshape the cornea’s curvature, thus focusing sharp focus images on the retina. The LASIK eye surgery price differs from hospital to hospital but can approximately be 30,000 INR to 1,15,000 INR per eye.
- Potential Risks- The procedure itself is completely safe but there may be certain major side effects. This includes dry eye, burning, itching and glare. These side effects are of major concern and can occur if proper care is not taken post-surgery. There is also a high flap dislocation possibility.
- SMILE- Small incision lenticule extraction is a new, bladeless, flapless laser technique used for treating refractive errors. A lenticular, a disc-like layer of the cornea, is created using a laser which is then removed through a 4mm corneal incision to correct its shape. The procedure is quick and the entirety of it takes just 5-10 minutes for each eye and the price, at 50000 – 1,30,000 INR, is a bit higher than the LASIK eye surgery cost.
- Potential Risks- There are no extreme side effects or risks as the SMILE is minimally invasive. Highly uncommon- occasional night vision issues or dry eye. Due to minimum to almost zero side effects, SMILE has been a preferred surgery today.
- Cataract surgery- In this operation, the cloudy lens of your eye, the cataract, is removed through a 3-4mm using vacuum and then replaced with a new, artificial lens made of either clear plastic or silicone. The prices for cataract surgery at 15,000 INR to 1,00,000 INR, are lower than the LASIK eye surgery price and may differ depending on the quality of the lens you opt for.
- Potential Risks- 98% of operations are successful but post-surgery complications may include infection, inflammation, bleeding or swelling. These can be avoided if extreme care is taken.
- Glaucoma Surgery- There are a bunch of different drainage procedures used to treat Glaucoma, a group of conditions causing intraocular pressure (IOP, pressure on the optic nerve). Still, trabeculectomy is the most common one of them. A small portion of the trabecular meshwork, the area at the base of the cornea, is removed in order to create a new opening for the aqueous humour to drain and slowly release the pressure, preventing vision loss.
- Potential Risks- Drooping eyelid, infection, scarring, low IOP, bleeding and in rare cases, haemorrhaging and vision loss.
So this was all about the different eye surgeries and the possible risks associated with each one of them. You can go ahead and choose the one which has minimum to no side effects. The best one according to us is SMILE as you can see that the side effects are on a very lower level. However, it is important to note that an experienced surgeon will be able to avoid almost all of these operative complications and; postoperative can be prevented by regularly using all the given eye drops and following the instruction given by the ophthalmologist.
Also, post your eye surgery, it is always recommended to visit your ophthalmologist for regular and frequent check-ups. This helps in identifying if there are any major issues or concerns that need to be addressed. Hopefully, this article was informative and detailed. Do let us know your thoughts on the same in the comments section.
