FAQs
Vision Care Experts Serving the Oklahoma City Area
Frequently Asked Questions
LASIK
What can LASIK do for me?
For many people, LASIK surgery means freedom from glasses and/or contact lenses. Custom LASIK improves both visual acuity and the quality of your vision. If you have extremely poor vision that cannot be adequately resolved by corrective lenses, LASIK may help by improving the curvature of your corneas.
How soon will my vision improve?
Most people experience a significant improvement in vision immediately after the procedure, before they even leave the laser center. For more information, ask your doctor.
Cataracts
What are cataracts?
A cataract is a clouding in the lens of the eye. The lens is mostly made of water and proteins. As we age, the protein molecules start to clump together, which interferes with the translucence of the lens. They block light entering the eye, and this dims the vision increasingly, as the clouding slowly expands.
What causes cataracts?
Most people who develop cataracts are older than 50 years. Cataracts in older people are so common they can be regarded as a normal part of the aging process. Two conditions related to cataracts are diabetes or injury to the eye. Medications such as steroids can also cause cataracts. Very rarely, a baby is born with congenital cataracts. It’s vital to diagnose them early so the baby’s eyes can learn to see during its infancy. If they’re left there until later in life, the person may be blind.
Do cataracts cause blindness?
They can. Over time, if they’re allowed to become opaque enough, they block so much light that you are unable to see at all. This rarely occurs in the U.S. anymore, but is a problem globally.
Glaucoma
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is an eye disease in which increased intraocular pressure (that is, too much fluid inside the eye) causes vision loss and blindness by damaging the optic nerve. If the optic nerve is slightly damaged, it’s less able to carry image information to the brain. You may not notice this at first. When it becomes severely damaged, blindness ensues.
What causes glaucoma?
There are five main types of glaucoma. They all occur when the drainage system of the eye does not function properly. It can be blocked by particles collecting in the drainage canals, by part of the iris being in the way, or by inadequate prenatal development.
Refractive Lens Exchange
What is Refractive Lens Exchange?
Refractive Lens Exchange is a surgery to remove the natural lens from the eye, and replace it with an artificial lens implant. The procedure is the same as cataract surgery, however the lens being removed has not yet become a cloudy cataract. With the advancements in intra-ocular lens implants along with the ease and safety of the procedure, many patients are choosing Refractive Lens Exchange as an alternative to glasses, contact lenses, and LASIK. An extra bonus that comes along with this procedure is that the patient will never have to worry about developing cataracts later in life!