|
How long has LASIK
Eye Surgery been around?
Reshaping the cornea for the correction of refractive errors has
been known since the mid-1800s. But a practically beneficial
operation goes back to 1949. This old technique called keratophakia
is similar to a permanent contact lens. This procedure consists of
taking away a layer of a donor cornea, sculpting it and putting it
on the patient's cornea to correct it. It was done by stitches and
from materials of donor corneas at that time. In 1963 Barraquer
invented a carpenter's plane-like device called microkeratome. Then
laserless LASIK-like operations have been performed.
The first working Excimer laser (which was created by Stuart Searles
(IBM) to etch circuits into computer chips without melting the
silicon) was available on earth in 1975. Later this laser was tested
by the US military on many materials even on the cornea. As far as
we know, Trokel is the first doctor to notice the potential of this
new laser for the correction of refractive errors and he began
animal studies of Excimer laser in 1983. But the honor to use it the
first time on humans goes to Theo Seiler, MD in April 1985. But
routine PRK for myopia has started in 1987, and turned to LASIK with
stitches and free cap in 1989 by Buratto and today's LASIK by
Guimaraes in 1991. Interestingly LASIK's patent has been issued to
Gholam Payman in 1989 (patent application in 1985 from animal
studies).
How long will the
LASIK
Eye Surgery take?
LASIK operation takes about 4 to 5 minutes for an eye. The
actual laser ablation time is in terms of seconds.
| 
