Each pulse removes a microscopic amount of tissue by evaporating it, producing very little heat and leaving the underlying tissue virtually unchanged. With earlier refractive surgical techniques, vision was blurred immediately after surgery, and the recovery time was longer which made it necessary to separate the procedures on each eye by several weeks. With astigmatism, the front of the cornea is not equally curved it is slightly oval, much like the shape of a football. Light rays that enter the eye are unequally bent and result in distortion of image. Anesthesia is not required.
Patients receive Valium and numbing eye drops, and are fully awake during the operation.
The procedure itself requires five or six minutes. Time in the office rarely exceeds two hours. And the Winner Is . . . When those words were broadcast by WRAL last December 1st, they suddenly became the no-charge passport to the wonders of laser vision corrective surgery with Dr. Dwight Perry but not, as it turns out, for the winner of the contest. She has been wearing contacts for over 20 years.