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After completing conventional or wavefront custom Lasik, All-Laser Lasik, PRK, LASEK, Epi-Lasik, laser eye surgery, patients often exclaim, "I can see!", shortly followed by, "What was that smell?" The process of laser eye surgery can cause the disconcerting smell of burning flesh. The excimer laser is a "cold" laser and does not remove tissue with heat. The concentrated light frequency disrupts the molecular bonds that hold together the corneal cells. Without these bonds the cells escape in the form of a mushroom cloud that looks similar to an atomic bomb. As these cells rapidly move away from the cornea they strike each other causing a minor heat buildup from friction. That buildup can raise the temperature of the cornea to about 110°F (43°C), or around 11°F (6°C) above normal body temperature and very close to the water temperature of a nice warm hot tub. A second-degree burn threshold is skin temperature raised to 175°F (79°C). A third-degree burn threshold is skin temperature raised to 200°F (93°C). The smell, which is remarkably like the smell of burning flesh, is from the chemical reaction of the laser on the cornea, not from heat. Some surgeons use a special vacuum device surrounding the eye that removes these cells throughout the procedure so the source of the unpleasant smell is removed. Even if it is only a chemical reaction via laser and not heat, nobody wants to experience what smells like their eye burning. If you are ready to choose a doctor to be evaluated for conventional or custom wavefront Lasik, All-Laser Lasik, PRK, LASEK, Epi-Lasik, NearVision CK, RLE, or any refractive surgery procedure, we highly recommend you consider a doctor who has been evaluated and certified by the USAEyes nonprofit organization. Locate a USAEyes Evaluated & Certified Lasik Laser Eye Surgery Doctor. If this article did not fully answer your questions, use our free Ask Lasik Expert patient forum.
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Current Lasik Medical Journal News...
[Refractive surgery]
[Refractive surgery] Ther Umsch. 2009 Mar;66(3):207-10 Authors: Epstein D The surgical correction of refractive errors has gained widespread acceptance in the past 20 years, mainly through the introduction of the excimer laser. The excimer is used to ablate the cornea, renoving stromal tissue in the center (to correct myopia through flattening of the surface), or in the midperiphery (to steepen the cornea to correct hyperopia). Although excimer procedures dominate the field of refractive surgery, other approaches are also available. In the cornea itself, ring segments can be implanted, heat-induced coagulation effects can produce steepening, and cross-linking of the collagen fibers can stiffen a weakened structure. While all corneal procedures are extraocular, refractive surgery can also be performed within the eye. Special intraocular lenses can be implanted in the anterior chamber angle, fixated onto the iris, or placed in the posterior chamber in front of the crystalline lens. These so-called phakic intraocular lenses are available in different optical magnitudes and act to correct the patient's refractive error. Prebyopic individuals can have the crystalline lens removed in a procedure identical to cataract surgery. In such cases the lens is extracted even though no cataract is present, and an intraocular lens is implanted in the now empty capsular bag of the crystalline lens. The implanted lens serves to correct the preoperative refractive error. PMID: 19266469 [PubMed - in process] Last updated Thursday, February 25, 2010 |
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