Refractive surgery is an eye care specialty for reducing refractive error and presbyopia without using glasses or contact lenses. The term, “refractive surgery” refers to several procedures, including LASIK, PRK, LASEK, Intacs, LTK, CK, AK, RK, and several emerging techniques. You may have heard the term, “laser vision correction”, which is often used in advertising because it doesn’t sound as threatening as “refractive surgery”. “Laser vision correction” refers to LASIK, PRK, LASEK, and LTK.

Today, LASIK is the most widely performed of all refractive surgery procedures. For many patients – but certainly not all – LASIK is the procedure of choice.

Refractive surgery is not a single event but a process that begins with a careful preoperative evaluation and ends with regular postoperative care. In fact, the pre- and postoperative exams are more important than the surgery for maximizing the likelihood of a success.