How Long Does Lasik Eye Surgery Take?
LASIK eye surgery (laser in situ keratomileuses) is one of the most common procedures many eye surgeons perform. A common question we routinely get is “how long does LASIK surgery take”. In general, LASIK surgery takes about 5 minutes per eye.
When your eye surgeon performs LASIK eye surgery, the cornea is being treated. The cornea is the clear tissue that bends light as it comes into the eye. If you wear contact lenses, the contact lens sits on your cornea. LASIK eye surgery, as well as other refractive procedures, aims to reshape the cornea so that light lands on your retina.
How Does Lasik Work?
LASIK surgery consists primarily of two parts:
The first portion of LASIK eye surgery involves the creation of a “flap”. The flap is approximately a 270-degree “U” shaped incision in the cornea. Originally the flap was created with a blade (called a microkeratome), which is occasionally still used, but now the flap is more commonly created with a femto-second laser. During flap creation, a suction device is placed on the eye holding it in place. Once the flap is created, your surgeon will lift the flap exposing the area of the cornea that we aim to reshape.
The second part of the procedure is performed with an excimer laser, which is different from the femto-second laser that created the flap. Your eye surgeon will use the excimer laser to reshape the cornea in order to bend light so that it lands on your retina, which allows the patient to see clearly without glasses. After this part of the surgery is complete the surgeon will lower the flap back into the original position. At this point the surgery is complete.
More About Lasik Eye Surgery
A few small details can change the length of the procedure. Your eye surgeon will give instructions to the patient during the procedure. If a patient is unable to maintain a steady gaze during the establishment of the suction process, this can take a little coaching to be sure the eye is in the correct position. Generally, this is caused by the patient squeezing his or her eyelids closed. After flap creation, the excimer laser will treat each individual patient’s eye prescription. Depending on the amount of prescription being treated this will also affect the length of the procedure. Rarely is the excimer laser used for more than 30 seconds. Finally, if the flap is not correctly positioned, it may be repositioned by your surgeon.
Overall, LASIK is a very safe and effective procedure for the treatment of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. Your entire surgery day shouldn’t last more than 30 minutes to an hour with the actual procedure only being about 10 minutes total in the operating room.
