Eye Surgery Options

Eye surgery or ocular surgery is a kind of surgery that is done on the eyes or the eye muscles. These surgeries are done by general surgeons or ophthalmologists to counter any kind of major eye problems. Any eye surgery requires anesthesia, which is normally given in the form of local anesthesia, where the extra-ocular muscles are anesthetized. Sometimes, topical anesthesia is also given.

There are various eye surgery options that an individual can avail of.

Different Eye Surgery Options

Cataract Eye Surgery Options: One of the most common corrective eye surgery options, cataract surgeries are performed on eyes where there is opacification of the lens, either due to old age or disease or any kind of trauma. As a result, the image formed on the retina is not clear. Such cases then warrant corrective eye surgery in the form of a cataract operation. In this surgery, the defective lens is removed, which is then replaced by a plastic intra-ocular lens. More on cataracts.

Glaucoma Eye Surgery Options: Glaucoma is a medical condition, wherein the raised intra-ocular pressure, due to excess of aqueous humor, affects the functioning of the optic nerve, leading to loss of vision. There are a few eye surgery options under glaucoma surgery. A relatively new option involves drainage of the excess aqueous humor fluid through the natural drainage system of the eye. This procedure is called canaloplasty. It is a minimally invasive procedure.

Laser Eye Surgery Options: Laser eye surgery often consists of various eye surgery correction options. These include:

• Lasik eye surgery (Laser assisted in-situ keratomileusis): Lasik eye surgery is a refractive type of eye surgery. It is used to correct different eye conditions such as myopia (shortsightedness), hypermetropia (longsightedness) and astigmatism (inability of the eye to focus on a point object due to irregular curvature of the cornea or lens). This procedure is performed using a laser. A flap is created in the deeper corneal layers. This procedure is often performed by people who wish to avoid wearing glasses or contact lenses, thus, is performed for vision correction. However, one of the side effects of this procedure includes dry eyes post lasik surgery.
• Lasek eye surgery (Laser assisted subepithelial keratectomy): This is a type of defective eye correction surgery option. This surgery is also done to get rid of glasses or contact lenses, however, the procedure followed is different from Lasik eye surgery procedure. In lasek eye surgery, a small amount of tissue from the corneal stroma is ablated.
• Other laser eye surgery options include laser thermal keratoplasty, laser photocoagulation and laser reversal of presbyopia
Read more on laser eye surgery risks and benefits.

Corneal eye surgery options: Corneal eye surgeries include most refractive surgeries. However, they also include corneal transplant operations, which are done to correct complete loss of vision, where the diseased or cloudy cornea is replaced by a healthy donor cornea. Corneal edema is a rare, but serious complication of this type of eye surgery. A new breakthrough in this field includes osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis, wherein an artificial cornea is regenerated using a tooth and jawbone. This procedure is still being fine tuned and is yet not practiced fully.

Eye Muscle Surgery Options: This type of surgery normally corrects conditions wherein the eyes are not normally aligned with each other (which is called strabismus). This includes myectomies, tenectomies, resections, transpositioning of the eye, etc.

Eye Removal Surgery Options: Complete removal of the eyeball (that is, removal of the eye while leaving behind the eye muscles), is called enucleation. This is done in severe cases like retinoblastoma (a rare cancer of the eye which is seen in children), last stages of glaucoma, severe inflammation of the eye (ophthalmia) and in cases of congenital cystic eye.

Cosmetic Eye Surgery Options: Cosmetic eye procedures includes cosmetic eyelid surgery, botox treatments around the eye and in a few cases, cosmetic eyebrow tattooing. Although cosmetic eye surgery cost is something most patients worry about. This is a procedure which is becoming increasingly common as more and more young people are opting for it. These procedures are easy to perform, requires less time, and the person can resume doing his normal daily activities in no time! Cosmetic eye surgery options include the following.

• Blepharoplasty: This is a surgery where the upper eyelid or lower eyelid is reshaped, either by the removal of subcutaneous fat or excess skin. Blepharoplasty is often done in cases of idiopathic swollen eyelids. The desired result can also be achieved by reinforcing the surrounding muscles and tendons. This procedure is more commonly called eyelid lift surgery.
• Botox surgery: Botox surgery can be used to treat blepharospasm (excessive blinking). More on botox.
• Browplasty: This procedure is also called forehead lift or browlift. This is a cosmetic eye surgery procedure used to deal with low and drooping eyebrows, which often obstructs vision.

Thus, these were a few of the major eye surgery options that are available today. Post-surgery, proper eye care needs to be taken to ensure speedy recovery and complete healing. So go out there and get those beautiful eyes treated, because after all, beauty lies in the 'eyes' of the beholder!