Myopia is the medical term for what most of us know as short-sightedness and near-sightedness. This eye condition part of a family of refractive errors that cause light to focus on the retina (the back of your eye) in a less than optimal way. For centuries, people have used spectacles to correct their myopia. Contact lenses then became an option for many people who can tolerate them.

Now, we can treat myopia – among other eye conditions – with surgery – either laser eye surgery or refractive lens exchange. Both of these procedure types have enjoyed significant evolution since eye surgeons first introduced them. Because it’s the most common refractive error, many technological advances aim to treat myopia; with ReLEx SMILE ™ keyhole laser eye surgery acting as the most recent among them.

Hyperopia is the medical term for long-sightedness or far-sightedness, and is one of the more common eye conditions. Hyperopia is another refractive error that involves light focusing at a sub-optimal location on the retina (the back of the eye). Correction of hyperopia also includes spectacles and contact lenses.

Over the past couple of decades, laser device companies have expanded their offerings to enable eye surgeons to treat hyperopia with laser eye surgery. Eye surgeons also use lens replacement techniques to treat more severe forms of long-sightedness.

Astigmatism is an eye condition in which the eye is shaped more like a rugby ball than a perfect sphere. Because we are all different, most of us have eyes that are not perfectively spherical. When this happens, the light that passes through the window of the eye (the cornea) onto the film at the back of the eye (the retina) can become distorted. Distorted light can lead to blurriness or even double-vision.

Spectacle and contact lens manufacturers offer visual aids to correct this refractive error alongside other eye conditions, like short-sightedness and long-sightedness. We can correct astigmatism with LASIK and refractive lens exchange.

Keratoconus is a severe form of astigmatism that leads to significant visual impairment if not treated. We consider keratoconus a disease state among eye conditions. Keratoconus is one of the contraindications for laser eye surgery.

For many years, the only option for patients suffering from keratoconus was a corneal transplant. Today, we can halt the progression of keratoconus with cross-linking treatment and intrastromal corneal rings.

Presbyopia is the natural process of ageing eyes. As we age, the lens inside our eye that is most responsible for zooming in on close objects becomes brittle and inelastic as it makes its way to becoming a cataract. Presbyopia has been one of the toughest eye conditions to treat because the problem arises inside the eye and can’t easily be corrected on the cornea.

Until relatively recently, the only corrective options were reading glasses, and for those with other refractive errors, varifocals and bifocals. Today, we most commonly treat presbyopia with refractive lens exchange. With that said, a select number of eye surgeons have employed a newer – but still safe and effective approach – to correct presbyopia with the same laser used in laser eye surgery. We call this advanced form of LASIK, PRESBYOND ™.