Health Vampiremoon

What can go Wrong?

Early Postoperative Complications

A subconjunctival hemorrhage is a common and minor post-Lasik complication. The incidence of refractive surgery patients having unresolved complications six months after surgery has been estimated from 3% to 6%. The following are some of the more frequently reported complications of Lasik:

* Dry eyes
* Overcorrection or undercorrection
* Visual acuity fluctuation
* Halos or starbursts around light sources at night
* Light sensitivity
* Ghosts or double vision
* Wrinkles in flap (striae)
* Decentered ablation
* Debris or growth under flap
* Thin or buttonhole flap
* Induced astigmatism
* Epithelium erosion
* Posterior vitreous detachment
* Macular hole

Late Postoperative Complications

Glare is another commonly reportedly complication of those who have had Lasik . Halos or starbursts around bright lights at night are caused by the irregularity between the lasered part and the untouched part. It is not practical to perform the surgery so that it covers the width of the pupil at full dilation at night, and the pupil may expand so that light passes through the edge of the flap into the pupil.

In daytime, the pupil is smaller than the edge. Newer equipment is available to properly treat those with large pupils, and responsible physicians will check for them during examination.

Safety and Efficacy
The reported figures for safety and efficacy are open to interpretation. In 2003, the Medical Defence Union (MDU), the largest insurer for doctors in the United Kingdom, reported a 166% increase in claims involving laser eye surgery; however, the MDU averred that these claims resulted primarily from patients' “unrealistic expectations” of Lasik rather than “faulty surgery”.

A 2003 study reported in the medical journal Ophthalmology found that nearly 18% of treated patients and 12% of treated eyes needed retreatment. The authors concluded that “higher initial corrections, astigmatism, and older age are risk factors for Lasik retreatment.”

In 2004, the British National Health Service's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) considered a systematic review of four randomized controlled trials before issuing guidance for the use of Lasik within the NHS.

Regarding the procedure's efficacy, NICE reported, "Current evidence on Lasik for the treatment of refractive errors suggests that it is effective in selected patients with mild or moderate short-sightedness" but that "evidence is weaker for its effectiveness in severe short-sightedness and long- sightedness."

Regarding the procedure's safety, NICE reported that "there are concerns about the procedure's safety in the long term and current evidence does not appear adequate to support its use within the NHS without special arrangements for consent and for audit or research." Leading refractive surgeons in the United Kingdom and United States, including at least one author of a study cited in the report, believe NICE relied on information that is severely dated and weakly researched.

Satisfaction
Various surveys have been performed to determine patient satisfaction with Lasik.

According to a 2005 survey, 92.2% of patients reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their surgery.

Asthma is very common among children, teens and adults. It is a disease that causes the airways of the lungs to tighten.

An asthma attack is when your lungs aren’t getting enough air to breathe. Your child might be having an asthma attack if he or she has:

Trouble breathing
Wheezing
Coughing
Chest pain
Chest tightness
What causes Asthma Attacks?

Things that cause asthma attacks are called triggers. Triggers are everywhere.

Any home can be full of triggers like mold, dust mites secondhand smoke, cockroaches, cats and dogs.

So how can these triggers be controlled? The following are 7 tips on how to control triggers in your home to prevent asthma attacks

Mold

Mold grows on damp things such as shower curtains, bath items, tubs, basins and tiles.

What you can do?

If you see mold, clean it up with soap and water.
Use exhaust fans or open a window in the bathroom when showering and the kitchen when cooking or washing dishes.
Fix leaky plumbing or other sources of water as soon as possible.
Dry damp or wet items within 1-2 days to avoid mold growth.

Dust Mites

Dust mites are tiny bugs you can’t see. They live in sheets, blankets, pillows, mattresses, soft furniture, carpets, and stuffed toys, such as stuffed animals.

What you can do?

Wash bed sheets and blankets once a week. Dry completely.
Use dust-proof covers on pillows and mattresses.
Vacuum carpets, rugs and furniture often.
Wash stuffed toys. Dry completely.

Secondhand Smoke

Asthma can be triggered by the smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, or the smoke breathed out by a smoker. Choose not to smoke in your home or car, and don't allow others to do so either.

What you can do?

Don’t smoke in your home or car.
Don’t let anyone smoke near your child.
Pledge to make your home and car smoke-free

Cockroaches

Cockroach body parts and droppings may trigger asthma attacks.

What you can do?

Keep counters, sinks, tables, and floors clean.
Clean dishes, crumbs, and spills.
Store food in air tight containers.
Cover trash cans.

Cats and Dogs

A warm-blooded animal's urine and saliva may also trigger attacks.

What you can do?

Keep pets outside if possible.
If you have a pet inside, keep them out of the bedroom and off the furniture.
Vacuum carpets and furniture often.

Nitrogen Dioxide

Nitrogen dioxide is an odorless gas that can irritate your eyes, nose, and throat and may cause shortness of breath. This gas can come from the use of appliances that burn fuels, such as gas, wood, and kerosene.

What you can do?

If possible, use fuel-burning appliances that are vented outside. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions on how to use these appliances.

Gas cooking stoves: Never use these to keep you warm or heat your house. If you have an exhaust fan, use it when you cook.

Unvented kerosene or gas space heaters: Use the proper fuel and keep the heater adjusted the right way. Open a window slightly or use an exhaust fan.

Wood stoves: Make sure the doors are tight fitting. Follow the maker's instructions for starting, burning, and putting out the fire.
Fireplaces: Always open the flue.

Chemical Irritants

Chemical irritants found in some products in your house, such as scented or unscented products, including cleaners, paints, adhesives, pesticides, cosmetics, or air fresheners, may make your child's asthma worse.

What you can do?

Use these products less often and make sure your child is not around when you use the products. Also, consider trying different products. Take great care to follow the instructions on the label. If you use these products, try to make sure that windows or doors are open and that you use an exhaust fan.

For more information on how to prevent asthma in the home, please visit http://communitydispatch.com/asthma.

Pre-Surgery Requirements
Patients wearing soft contact lenses typically are instructed to stop wearing them approximately 7 to 10 days before surgery. Some surgeons recommend that patients wearing hard contact lenses should stop wearing them for a minimum of six weeks plus another six weeks for every three years the hard contacts had been worn.

Before the surgery, the surfaces of the patient's corneas are examined with a computer-controlled scanning device to determine their exact shape. Using low-power lasers, it creates a topographic map of the cornea. This process also detects astigmatism and other irregularities in the shape of the cornea.

Using this information, the surgeon calculates the amount and locations of corneal tissue to be removed during the operation. The patient typically is prescribed an antibiotic to start taking beforehand, to minimize the risk of infection after the procedure.

Higher order Aberrations are visual problems not captured in a traditional eye exam. In a young healthy eye, the level of higher order aberrations are typically low and insignificant.

Concern has long plagued the tendency of refractive surgeries to induce higher order aberration not correctible by traditional contacts or glasses. The advancement of lasik technique and technologies has helped eliminate the risk of clinically significant visual impairment after the surgery.

There has been controversy about the amount of higher order aberrations that would lead to significant vision impairment. In extreme cases, where proper policy was not followed and before key advances, some people could suffer rather debilitating symptoms including serious loss of contrast sensitivity in poor lighting situations.

Over time, most of the attention has been focused on spherical aberration. Lasik and PRK tend to induce spherical aberration, because of the tendency of the laser to undercorrect as it moves outward from the center of the treatment zone.

This is really only a significant issue for large corrections. There is some thought if the lasers were simply programmed to adjust for this tendency, no significant spherical aberration would be induced. Hence, in eyes with little existing higher order aberrations, "wavefront optimized" lasik rather than wavefront guided Lasik may well be the future.

Regardless, most patients with even the highest corrections remain highly satisfied even with conventional lasik.

Possible Complications
The incidence of flap complications has been estimated to be 0.244%. Flap complications (such as displaced flaps or folds in the flaps that necessitate repositioning, diffuse lamellar keratitis, and epithelial ingrowth) are common in lamellar corneal surgeries but rarely lead to permanent visual acuity loss; the incidence of these microkeratome-related complications decreases with increased physician experience.

A slipped flap (a corneal flap that detaches from the rest of the cornea) is one of the most common complications. The chances of this are greatest immediately after surgery, so patients typically are advised to go home and sleep, to let the flap heal.

Flap interface particles are another finding whose clinical significance is undetermined. A Finnish study found that particles of various sizes and reflectivity were clinically visible in 38.7% of eyes examined via slit lamp biomicroscopy, but apparent in 100% of eyes using confocal microscopy.