The entire procedure, including the cleaning of the lid, usually takes 10 to 15 minutes. Not all patients will achieve this result, however. Some patients are very strong healers and some patients heal less strongly. Patients who are very strong healers will tend to have some of their nearsightedness return during the first few weeks after surgery. Some patients may require a re-treatment because their healing is so strong that a lot of nearsightedness comes back.
Some patients are happy just to be able to drive their car without glasses.
The laser does this by treating different parts of the cornea by different amounts. The end result is that the central cornea should be perfectly round, like a basketball and no longer elongated like a football. The problem with performing Lasik surgery in young individuals is that the eye may not be finished growing. If the eye is not finished growing, the patient could initially see very well after the surgery but then become nearsighted again because of continued growth of the eye. For this reason, most specialists recommend against surgery for people under the age of 18.