Laser correction of visual perception (refractive surgery) is a technique used to treat myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. The operation is performed under local anesthesia and takes a few minutes.
It is painless, touches are felt, but there is no pronounced pain.
High-tech manipulation will restore visual perception in a short period of time. The procedure has some limitations, these are not only health-related contraindications, but also age restrictions.
Are there age restrictions
Exist. Refractive surgery is contraindicated in patients under 18 years of age. Some operations are not performed until age 25. What is this connected with?
Until the age of 18, the human body continues to develop and grow. This applies not only to height and shoe size, but also to internal organs, including the optical system. The shape of the visual analyzer continues to change.
For this reason, the procedure is not performed on patients under 18 years of age. The procedure is permitted if the patient has serious refractive errors that cannot be corrected with glasses or contact lenses; the child will soon go blind and will not be able to see at all.
Then age restrictions are lifted, and the doctor decides which laser surgery to perform. If necessary, a panel of doctors is assembled, they study the test results and announce the decision to the parents.
If the child’s vision is corrected with glasses or contact correction devices, this manipulation is contraindicated. After surgery, the shape of the eye continues to change; surgery will not stop growth.
The vision of the operated teenager will not improve, but worsen. Additional surgery will be required, and this is extra stress for the young body.
Therefore, there are age restrictions for performing it on the eyes.
There are indications for surgical intervention, for which treatment is carried out even at 6 years of age. It is performed for anisometropia at any age. Treatment is actively used in children with this diagnosis.
With hypermetropia and astigmatism, the eyes stop growing by the age of 6 years. The visual organ is fully formed by the age of 10. This means that the procedure is permitted for children during this period.
— How much does breast augmentation surgery cost?
— Such an operation cannot be cheaper than the reasonable cost of a high-quality implant. The cost of high-quality silicone implants ranges from 40 to 70 thousand rubles (per pair). Plus consumables, payment for the surgeon’s work (it is clear that the work of a good, eminent surgeon costs more than the work of a novice doctor).
Therefore, I am sure: a high-quality breast augmentation operation cannot cost less than 170 thousand rubles. And the average cost of such an operation today ranges from 170 to 300 thousand rubles.
At what age do laser vision correction begin?
The age requirement for performing the visual perception procedure is 18 years. There are people whose myopia continues to progress until they are 20–25 years old. That is, if refractive surgery is performed at the age of 18, after 2-3 years myopia will reappear and continue to develop.
Most doctors recommend eye surgery no earlier than 20 years of age, solely for indications. It is advisable to be examined by 2 ophthalmologists, since the best ones also make mistakes.
— So you don’t advise women to significantly enlarge their breasts?
— I do not recommend radical breast augmentation. You can create beautiful breasts without increasing them by several sizes at once, but, for example, by tightening them or increasing them by just a size and a half and giving them a beautiful shape.
Significant breast enlargement, from the second to the fifth or sixth size, is undesirable from an aesthetic point of view, and from a medical point of view it is simply dangerous. Because this is quite a serious load on the spine. Due to large implants, breast tissue is stretched and its shape may change.
The “suit,” that is, the breasts, should “fit” and look beautiful on a woman’s body.
Up to what age is laser vision correction performed?
The operation is performed up to 45-50 years of age. Carrying out this procedure during this period is not an absolute contraindication, but is considered a limitation. At 45-50, the recovery and healing process is slower, the cornea will not return to its normal state, there is a risk of flap displacement, scarring and unevenness of the cornea.
Due to these risks, it is not recommended after 45 and is performed only for serious reasons.
The operation is not prescribed for thin cornea. However, modern ophthalmology does not stand still and the new improved method of laser correction Epi-Lasik makes it possible to carry out the procedure in the presence of a thin cornea. Good vision after 45 is possible if there are no contraindications.
It is not recommended to treat age-related farsightedness that develops after 40 years. This disease is a natural process of tissue aging in the human body; it develops due to changes in the lens of the visual analyzer, so laser correction will not help correct the condition.
The procedure is carried out after 60. You should carefully consider the choice of specialists who will correct the patient’s visual perception. In addition, you will need to undergo a more thorough examination.
The operation is not performed if there are contraindications to it. For example, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes, blood diseases or mental disorders. In this case, surgical intervention is prohibited at any age.
Possible complications
The recovery period after laser correction may be prolonged, especially taking into account age and concomitant pathologies. Perhaps the doctor made mistakes during the intervention - and the correction was not fully completed. Therefore, be very careful when choosing a clinic and specialist - a lot depends on this.
Laser correction can lead to unpleasant consequences years later. For example, over time the cornea will weaken and scarring will cause further vision problems. If the acuity has not improved after surgery, then the problem simply has not been eliminated - microsurgery can do a lot, but not everything.
Indications for surgery for myopia and farsightedness
Refractive surgery is performed for light refraction disorders such as hypermetropia and myopia. Laser correction is relevant for:
- myopia -1–15 diopters;
- hypermetropia - +2-6 diopters.
Surgery is performed for astigmatism. In this case, it is performed for refractive error from -5 to +5 diopters.
The procedure is performed in a combination of myopia and farsightedness with astigmatism.
Different types of laser vision correction have their own indications.
Types of visual impairment in children
There are several different diseases and abnormalities that lead to vision impairment. Strobism is popularly called strabismus. With it, the eyes are uncoordinated in movement and cannot focus on an object. One eye or the other may be confused, sometimes both look in different directions.
Amblyopia is called "lazy eye". Gradually, the child begins to see worse, but this disease is not corrected with glasses. Congenital color blindness cannot be treated either. Eyes with this disorder cannot detect certain colors. In addition to visual acuity, the following are impaired: color perception, focusing, orientation in space.
Astigmatism in itself does not reduce visual acuity, it only causes defocusing. Due to changes in the cornea of the eye, the child cannot see objects clearly.
The most common is myopia (myopia) - the patient cannot see objects in the distance, but clearly sees them close. If left untreated, visual acuity will decline. It is rare in children, but hypermetropia (farsightedness) occurs. This is a natural condition for babies and goes away with age. It is characterized by a clear vision of close objects and the inability to see objects in the distance.
Is repeated laser correction possible?
Sometimes it is not able to correct refractive error. This occurs due to a severe disorder that cannot be eliminated in one procedure. In such situations, the operation is repeated after a certain time, which is prescribed by the ophthalmologist.
Repeated manipulation is carried out. Manipulation is permitted if the thickness of the cornea is at least 480–500 microns. Sometimes repeated intervention is required, or the procedure itself is calculated in 2 stages. Correction of the second eye on a previously operated eye will be allowed no earlier than 3–6 months, depending on the healing process.
Indications for a repeat procedure:
- refractive error of the last degree;
- last degree of astigmatism;
- concomitant pathologies of the optical system that affect the patient’s refractive abilities;
- if a person is not satisfied with his vision;
- undercorrection or overcorrection during the primary intervention, which is considered a mistake by the treating doctor or is associated with the individual structure of the visual analyzer;
- medical errors during diagnostic tests.
A repeat procedure is performed if complications occur during the rehabilitation period—displacement of the flap, scar formation. In this case, only the patient is to blame, since these complications arise when the rules of the rehabilitation period are not followed.
How is the operation performed?
In each case, the technique of otoplasty and its duration are individual and depend on:
- degree of ear protrusion;
- severity of ear injury;
- severity of congenital ear developmental abnormalities;
- other circumstances (for example, the child’s preparedness).
Aesthetic otoplasty for children is performed quite quickly: the procedure takes 2 hours at most. Reconstructive otoplasty for children is a more serious operation, often requiring surgical intervention several times.
Aesthetic otoplasty in a child
After a consultation and a thorough examination, the surgeon makes incisions in the skin behind the ear. These cuts are completely invisible in the future. Next, using natural tissues (prostheses or implants), the optimal shape of the auricle is modeled. It is possible to remove excess cartilage tissue.
Also, to pull the ear back, the doctor can make incisions in the nearby skin, without truncation of the cartilage. The ear is fixed in the desired position with a thread. A special surgical thread is often used, which dissolves on its own after a few days. Afterwards, the doctor treats the surface of the wound with an antiseptic and applies a sterile bandage.
Despite the fact that otoplasty is performed quickly in most cases, children are recommended to have their ears corrected under general anesthesia. This is because it is difficult for them to remain motionless for a long time. For adolescents, the operation can be performed under local anesthesia.
Parents should not be afraid of general anesthesia: mild sedatives are used during otoplasty. After the anesthesia wears off, the child does not feel pain. In addition, a specialist monitors the child’s condition for some time after the operation.
What is the procedure
An effective and gentle type of surgical intervention with a long history. This method restores vision to people with eye abnormalities such as myopia (nearsightedness), hypermetropia (farsightedness) and astigmatism.
There are three methods of vision correction using laser: FRK, LASEK, LASIK
. The first one is the oldest. It is effective in the initial stages of myopia. The work of this method is to remove the corneal epithelium and further evaporate its deep layers - Bowman's membrane, as well as the upper part of the stroma. The healing process lasts about 4 days.
Modern and gentle. The valve is formed from the epithelium, Bowman's membrane and part of the stroma, which after surgery will be attached in place and fixed with a temporary contact lens. The laser penetrates into the deep layers of the stroma and corrects significant degrees of astigmatism, farsightedness and myopia.
Consists of two stages. The first involves cutting off the top layer of the cornea. After this, the laser eliminates defects in the deep layers of the cornea, and then the cut layer is returned to its place. Healing occurs quickly and without complications.
Reference!
To perform the procedure, local anesthesia is used, and the patient does not experience pain in the absence of increased sensitivity of the eye tissue.
Clinical picture of myopia
Myopia is a disorder in the functioning of the human visual system, as a result of which visual acuity and the ability to focus are reduced. The fact is that with myopia, the image does not arrive on the retina, but in front of it. Therefore, in order for the brain to recognize it, you have to bring the object closer to the eye or squint, thus adjusting the focus. This occurs because the eyeball increases in length, changing the focus of vision, and image rays pass past the center of the retina.
Postoperative period
Bandage after pediatric otoplasty
If you follow all the doctor’s recommendations, rehabilitation after pediatric otoplasty goes quite quickly. To avoid complications, it is very important to take the necessary medications and follow the prescribed procedures.
After otoplasty, the ears will swell (this is normal), and some soreness and sensitivity may occur.
Injury should be avoided and dressings should be carried out in a timely manner.
- The bandage after pediatric otoplasty is worn continuously for 1-2 weeks, after which it is recommended to wear it at night for another month (to avoid accidental trauma to fresh sutures). You can't wash your hair for several days.
- If the child attends school, the doctor will prescribe him an exemption from physical education for 1-2 weeks.
As a rule, the postoperative period is easy and the wounds heal quickly: there are no large accumulations of blood vessels in the area behind the ear, and there is no fat layer.
